Mzi Resources Ltd SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Mzi Resources Ltd managers to do a situational analysis of the firm . It is an important technique to understand the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Mzi Resources Ltd is facing in its current business environment.

The Mzi Resources Ltd is one of the leading firms in its industry. Mzi Resources Ltd maintains its prominent position in market by critically analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis an immensenly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the organization 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 called SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix enables the managers of the Mzi Resources Ltd to develop four types of strategies:

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

Mzi Resources Ltd swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

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

Step by Step Guide to Mzi Resources Ltd SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Mzi Resources Ltd – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading firms in its industry, Mzi Resources Ltd 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 Mzi Resources Ltd are –

Read - Mzi Resources Ltd Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
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Strong distribution network – Over the years Mzi Resources Ltd has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Mzi Resources Ltd is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Mzi Resources Ltd 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 Brand Portfolio – Over the years Mzi Resources Ltd has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Mzi Resources Ltd just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
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.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Superb Performance in New Markets – Mzi Resources Ltd 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 developing new products – product innovation.

Weakness of Mzi Resources Ltd – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Mzi Resources Ltd can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a firm can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Mzi Resources Ltd are below the industry average.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Mzi Resources Ltd is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
Financial planning is not done properly and efficiently. The current asset ratio and liquid asset ratios suggest that the company can use the cash more efficiently than what it is doing at present.
Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Mzi Resources Ltd is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Mzi Resources Ltd 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.
Organization structure is only compatible with present business model thus limiting expansion in adjacent product segments.
The marketing of the products left a lot to be desired. Even though the product is a success in terms of sale but its positioning and unique selling proposition is not clearly defined which can lead to the attacks in this segment from the competitors.

Opportunities for Mzi Resources Ltd – External Strategic Factors

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The new technology provides an opportunity to Mzi Resources Ltd to practices differentiated pricing strategy in the new market. It will enable the firm to maintain its loyal customers with great service and lure new customers through other value oriented propositions.
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 Mzi Resources Ltd. 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 Mzi Resources Ltd.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Mzi Resources Ltd products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Mzi Resources Ltd an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Mzi Resources Ltd to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Mzi Resources Ltd 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 Mzi Resources Ltd to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.

Threats Mzi Resources Ltd Facing - External Strategic Factors

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.
Liability laws in different countries are different and Mzi Resources Ltd may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.
New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
No regular supply of innovative products – Over the years the company has developed numerous products but those are often response to the development by other players. Secondly the supply of new products is not regular thus leading to high and low swings in the sales number over period of time.
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
Increasing trend toward isolationism in the American economy can lead to similar reaction from other government thus negatively impacting the international sales.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Mzi Resources Ltd’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
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.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Mzi Resources Ltd

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 Mzi Resources Ltd
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 Mzi Resources Ltd

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 Mzi Resources Ltd 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 Mzi Resources Ltd

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

You can email us to get an example document of Weighted SWOT analysis.

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)