Fidelity European Values Plc SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Fidelity European Values Plc 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) Fidelity European Values Plc is facing in its current business environment.

The Fidelity European Values Plc is one of the leading firms in its industry. Fidelity European Values Plc maintains its dominant position in market by carefully 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.


Order Now - Fidelity European Values Plc SWOT Analysis
Check out- Fidelity European Values Plc PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement


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 enables the managers of the Fidelity European Values Plc 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 core purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that an organization can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Fidelity European Values Plc strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Fidelity European Values Plc SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Fidelity European Values Plc – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Fidelity European Values Plc has numerous strengths that help 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 Fidelity European Values Plc are –

Read - Fidelity European Values Plc Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

• Strong Free Cash Flow – Fidelity European Values Plc has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
• Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
• Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
• Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Fidelity European Values Plc has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Fidelity European Values Plc just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
• 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. Fidelity European Values Plc 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.
• Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
• Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Fidelity European Values Plc is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.

---

Weakness of Fidelity European Values Plc – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Fidelity European Values Plc 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.

Article continues after advertisement

• Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Fidelity European Values Plc 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.
• High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Fidelity European Values Plc has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
• 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.
• 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.
• Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Fidelity European Values Plc 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.
• 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.
• 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 Fidelity European Values Plc is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.

Opportunities for Fidelity European Values Plc – External Strategic Factors

Article continues after advertisement

• Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Fidelity European Values Plc an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
• Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Fidelity European Values Plc products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
• The new technology provides an opportunity to Fidelity European Values Plc 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 new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Fidelity European Values Plc 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 Fidelity European Values Plc to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
• 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 Fidelity European Values Plc in other product categories.
• 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.
• Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Fidelity European Values Plc’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.

Threats Fidelity European Values Plc Facing - External Strategic Factors

• Liability laws in different countries are different and Fidelity European Values Plc 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.
• Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
• Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Fidelity European Values Plc’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
• Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
• Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of Fidelity European Values Plc
• Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Fidelity European Values Plc profitability.
• New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Fidelity European Values Plc

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 Fidelity European Values Plc
• 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 Fidelity European Values Plc

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 Fidelity European Values Plc 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 Fidelity European Values Plc

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 Fidelity European Values Plc

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)