Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

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SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be used by Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. managers to do a situational analysis of the firm . It is a handy technique to map out the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. is facing in its current business environment.

The Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 called SWOT Matrix.

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

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

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The main purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a company can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading firms in its industry, Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. are –

Read - Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
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Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
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.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Free Cash Flow – Allison Transmission Holdings, 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.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Strong distribution network – Over the years Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.

Weakness of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a company can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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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.
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.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, 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. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.
Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Allison Transmission Holdings, 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.

Opportunities for Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
The new technology provides an opportunity to Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. 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.
The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc..
New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
Organization’s core competencies can be a success in similar other products field. A comparative example could be - GE healthcare research helped it in developing better Oil drilling machines.
Stable free cash flow provides opportunities to invest in adjacent product segments. With more cash in bank the company can invest in new technologies as well as in new products segments. This should open a window of opportunity for Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. in other product categories.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.

Threats Allison Transmission Holdings, 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.
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.
The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
Increasing trend toward isolationism in the American economy can lead to similar reaction from other government thus negatively impacting the international sales.
Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. profitability.
Shortage of skilled workforce in certain global market represents a threat to steady growth of profits for Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. in those markets.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, 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 Allison Transmission Holdings, 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)