MicroVision, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

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SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be used by MicroVision, Inc. managers to do a situational analysis of the organization . It is a useful technique to evalauate the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) MicroVision, Inc. is facing in its current business environment.

The MicroVision, Inc. is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. MicroVision, Inc. maintains its prominent position in market by critically analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis a highly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the firm such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

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The SWOT Analysis framework helps an organization to identify the internal strategic factors such as -strengths and weaknesses, & external strategic factors such as - opportunities and threats. It leads to a 2X2 matrix – also known as SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix helps the managers of the MicroVision, Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies
WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies
ST (strengths-threats) Strategies
WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies

MicroVision, Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The central purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that an organization can use to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect MicroVision, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to MicroVision, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of MicroVision, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading companies in its industry, MicroVision, Inc. has numerous strengths that enable it to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Based on Fern Fort University extensive research – some of the strengths of MicroVision, Inc. are –

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Strong distribution network – Over the years MicroVision, Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years MicroVision, Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of MicroVision, Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
Strong Free Cash Flow – MicroVision, Inc. has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
High level of customer satisfaction – the company with its dedicated customer relationship management department has able to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction among present customers and good brand equity among the potential customers.
Superb Performance in New Markets – MicroVision, Inc. has built expertise at entering new markets and making success of them. The expansion has helped the organization to build new revenue stream and diversify the economic cycle risk in the markets it operates in.
Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms through mergers & acquisition. It has successfully integrated number of technology companies in the past few years to streamline its operations and to build a reliable supply chain.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. MicroVision, Inc. is investing huge resources in training and development of its employees resulting in a workforce that is not only highly skilled but also motivated to achieve more.
Strong dealer community – It has built a culture among distributor & dealers where the dealers not only promote company’s products but also invest in training the sales team to explain to the customer how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of the products.

Weakness of MicroVision, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where MicroVision, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where an organization can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though MicroVision, Inc. is spending above the industry average on Research and Development, it has not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry in terms of innovation. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward to bring out products based on tested features in the market.
Not very good at product demand forecasting leading to higher rate of missed opportunities compare to its competitors. One of the reason why the days inventory is high compare to its competitors is that MicroVision, Inc. is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, MicroVision, Inc. needs to put more money in technology to integrate the processes across the board. Right now the investment in technologies is not at par with the vision of the company.
There are gaps in the product range sold by the company. This lack of choice can give a new competitor a foothold in the market.
Limited success outside core business – Even though MicroVision, Inc. is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry MicroVision, Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
The company has not being able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. MicroVision, Inc. has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.

Opportunities for MicroVision, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable MicroVision, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of MicroVision, Inc.’s products thus providing an opportunity to the company - either to boost its profitability or pass on the benefits to the customers to gain market share.
New customers from online channel – Over the past few years the company has invested vast sum of money into the online platform. This investment has opened new sales channel for MicroVision, Inc.. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of MicroVision, Inc..
Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for MicroVision, Inc. to capture new customers and increase its market share.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as MicroVision, Inc. to increase its profitability.
New environmental policies – The new opportunities will create a level playing field for all the players in the industry. It represent a great opportunity for MicroVision, Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of MicroVision, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.

Threats MicroVision, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

Intense competition – Stable profitability has increased the number of players in the industry over last two years which has put downward pressure on not only profitability but also on overall sales.
New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of MicroVision, Inc.
As the company is operating in numerous countries it is exposed to currency fluctuations especially given the volatile political climate in number of markets across the world.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
Increasing trend toward isolationism in the American economy can lead to similar reaction from other government thus negatively impacting the international sales.
Liability laws in different countries are different and MicroVision, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.
The demand of the highly profitable products is seasonal in nature and any unlikely event during the peak season may impact the profitability of the company in short to medium term.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for MicroVision, Inc.

Although the SWOT analysis is widely used as a strategic planning tool, the analysis does have its share of limitations.

Certain capabilities or factors of an organization can be both a strength and weakness at the same time. This is one of the major limitations of SWOT analysis . For example changing environmental regulations can be both a threat to company it can also be an opportunity in a sense that it will enable the company to be on a level playing field or at advantage to competitors if it able to develop the products faster than the competitors.
SWOT does not show how to achieve a competitive advantage, so it must not be an end in itself.
The matrix is only a starting point for a discussion on how proposed strategies could be implemented. It provided an evaluation window but not an implementation plan based on strategic competitiveness of MicroVision, Inc.
SWOT is a static assessment - analysis of status quo with few prospective changes. As circumstances, capabilities, threats, and strategies change, the dynamics of a competitive environment may not be revealed in a single matrix.
SWOT analysis may lead the firm to overemphasize a single internal or external factor in formulating strategies. There are interrelationships among the key internal and external factors that SWOT does not reveal that may be important in devising strategies.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of MicroVision, Inc.

In light of the above mentioned limitations of the SWOT analysis / matrix, corporate managers decided to provide weightage to each internal strength and weakness of the firm. Organizations also assess the likelihood of events taking place in the coming future and how strong their impact could be on company's performance.

This method is called Weighted SWOT analysis. It is better than doing simplistic SWOT analysis because with Weighted SWOT Analysis MicroVision, Inc. managers can focus on the most critical factors and discount the non-important one. It also solves the long list problem where organizations ends up making a long list but none of the factors deemed too critical.

Limitation of Weighted SWOT analysis of MicroVision, Inc.

This approach also suffers from one major drawback - it focus on individual importance of factor rather than how they are collectively important and impact the business holistically.

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Example of Weighted SWOT Analysis

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SWOT Worksheet & Template

If you like to do your own SWOT analysis or want to make your own Weighted SWOT SWOT matrix then feel free to download Fern Fort University SWOT Analysis Template.

References / Citations & Bibliography

M. E. Porter, Competitive Strategy(New York: Free Press, 1980)
A. D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962)
O. E. Williamson, Markets and Hierarchies(New York: Free Press, 1975);
L. Wrigley, Divisional Autonomy and Diversification (PhD, Harvard Business School, 1970)
R. E. White, Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context and Performance: An Empirical Investigation, Strategic Management Journal7 (1986)