Order custom Harvard Business Case Study Analysis & Solution. Starting just $19
Fern Fort University
Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf SWOT Analysis / Matrix
Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers
SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf managers to do a situational analysis of the firm . It is a handy technique to evalauate the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf is facing in its current business environment.
The Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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 company such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.
Order Now - Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf SWOT Analysis
Check out- Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement
The SWOT Analysis framework facilitates 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf to develop four types of strategies:
- SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies
- WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies
- ST (strengths-threats) Strategies
- WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies
SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective
The primary purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a company can use to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.
Step by Step Guide to Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf SWOT Analysis
Strengths of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf – Internal Strategic Factors
As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf are –
Read - Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
Article continues after advertisement
- 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.
- Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
- Strong distribution network – Over the years Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
- 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.
- 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.
- Superb Performance in New Markets – Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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.
- Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
Weakness of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf – Internal Strategic Factors
Weakness are the areas where Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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.
Article continues after advertisement
- 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
- 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
- Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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.
- 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.
- High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
- Days inventory is high compare to the competitors – making the company raise more capital to invest in the channel. This can impact the long term growth of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
Opportunities for Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf – External Strategic Factors
Article continues after advertisement
- New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
- The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf to increase its profitability.
- The new technology provides an opportunity to Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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.
- Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
- Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf.
- Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf’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.
- 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf in other product categories.
- Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf to capture new customers and increase its market share.
Threats Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf Facing - External Strategic Factors
- 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those 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.
- Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
- 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.
- Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
- 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.
Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
- 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.
Article continues after advertisement
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf 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 Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
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.
Buy Custom Essay and Term Paper on SWOT Analysis / Matrix , Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ishares S&P Mid-Cap Etf
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)
Order Now
Previous 5 SWOT Analysis
- Xtv Networks Ltd SWOT Analysis
- Xtd Ltd SWOT Analysis
- Wpp Aunz Ltd SWOT Analysis
- Village Roadshow Limited SWOT Analysis
- Victor Group Holdings Limited SWOT Analysis
Next 5 SWOT Analysis
- 360 Capital Total Return Fund SWOT Analysis
- 8Ip Emerging Companies Limited SWOT Analysis
- Absolute Equity Performance Fund Limited SWOT Analysis
- Acorn Capital Investment Fund Limited SWOT Analysis
- Alternative Investment Trust SWOT Analysis
HBR Case Studies Solutions
- Asking "What Else?" to Identify Unintended Negative Consequences case study solution
- Ensighten case study solution
- Agrico, Inc.: A Software Dilemma case study solution
- Facebook, Inc.: The Initial Public Offering case study solution
- Honeywell and the Great Recession: The Economic Recovery (B) case study solution