manufacturing capabilities, resources owned, finance, excess or lack of internal organization, the experiences of the previous organization.
External Factors (O & T) may include trends, cultural, social, politics, ideology, capital resources, government regulations , economy ,current events, environment, technological development.
The internal analysis is a critical stage in identifying the resources, capabilities, core competencies and competitive advantages, using a functional approach to review finance, management, infrastructure, procurement, production, distribution, marketing, reputational factors and innovation.
The external analysis identifies market opportunities and threats by looking at the competitors' environment, the industry environment and the general environment...
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The result of SWOT analysis is presented in the form of a matrix consisting of 2 rows of 2 columns and divided into 4 parts. Each part corresponds to strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. SWOT is structured as follows:
HELPFUL factors that take away from the organization or leaves it at a disadvantage. that could cause trouble to the organization
Table 2.9: Swot Matrix
TOWS Analysis
Next, the TOWS matrix is derived from the SWOT analysis model, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses within the enterprise as well as the external opportunities and challenges that businesses face. TOWS is a variant of the SWOT model and
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developed in a book " The TOWS Matrix: A Tool for Situational Analysis" by American international business professor: "Heinz Weirich 1982"
The TOWS matrix is designed to develop strategic choices by analyzing both internal and external factors . TOWS is a very practical tool, particularly in the field of business administration and marketing. Whereas SWOT Analysis starts with an internal analysis, the TOWS Matrix starts the other way around, with an external environment analysis; the threats and opportunities are examined first.
From that standpoint, an organization gets a clear picture of its environment and the opportunity to think about strategy and what direction the company will go in.
Next the company’s strengths and weaknesses are considered; what it’s good at internally and what it’s not so good at. The external analysis is linked to the analysis and the resulting TOWS Matrix can help an organization to make
decisions better, seize opportunities and protect itself better against threats (Tools Hero, Tows Matrix).
The TOWS Matrix helps businesses to identify their strategic options. An
organization gets the opportunity to make the most of its strengths and get around its internal weaknesses and learn to deal with them properly. Externally, an
organization learns to carefully look for market opportunities and recognize possibilities. And they learn how to control and overcome potential threats.
The TOWS Matrix can also help with brainstorming and developing great ideas to generate effective marketing strategies and tactics. Furthermore, the model goes beyond merely finding out the strengths and weaknesses within an organization and what opportunities and threats there are in its environment. It forces
organizations to really think about how they can improve themselves, how they can guard against threats and become more aware of their expertise and potential
shortcomings.
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EXTERNAL FACTORS INTERNAL FACTORS
S-STRENGTHS W-WEAKESSES O-OPPORTUNITIES SO - STRATEGIES
Use internal strengths
T-THREATS ST – STRATEGIES Use strengths to
SWOT analysis combined with a TOWS analysis play a important stage in the strategic planning . They offer a good starting to asses the current situation and to evaluate potential next steps.
Marketing Mix Analysis
Marketing is crucial job to the success of a business, with its main focus on customer satisfaction, quality, and consumer value. Marketing Mix is one of the most commonly used strategies. The Marketing Mix (also known as the 4 Ps) is a foundation model. The Marketing Mix has been defined as the "set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market"
( Kotler). Marketing Mix describes the set of tools that management can use to influence sales. To begin with, an organization may decide on its target group of customers to be served. Once the target group is decided, the product is to be
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placed in the market by providing the appropriate product, price, distribution and promotional efforts. These are to be combined or mixed in an appropriate
proportion so as to achieve the marketing goal. Such mix of product, price, distribution and promotional efforts is known as ‘Marketing Mix’.
According to Philip Kotler “Marketing Mix " is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response”. The controllable variables in this context refer to the 4 P’s [product, price, place (distribution) and
promotion]. Each firm strives to build up such a composition of 4P’s, which can create highest level of consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its
organizational objectives. Thus, this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target customers, and it varies from one organization to another depending upon its available resources and marketing objective.
The origins of the 4 Ps can be traced to the late 1940s. The first known mention of a mix has been attributed to a Professor of Marketing at Harvard University, Prof.
James Culliton. In 1948, Culliton published an article entitled, The Management of Marketing Costs in which Culliton describes marketers as 'mixers of ingredients'.
Some years later, Culliton's colleague, Professor Neil Borden, published a retrospective article detailing the early history of the marketing mix in which he claims that he was inspired by Culliton's idea of 'mixers', and credits himself with popularizing the concept of the 'marketing mix'. According to Borden's account, he used the term, 'marketing mix' consistently from the late 1940s. For instance, he is known to have used the term 'marketing mix' in his presidential address given to the American Marketing Association in 1953. Although the idea of marketers as 'mixers of ingredients' caught on, marketers could not reach any real consensus about what elements should be included in the mix until the 1960s. The 4 Ps in its modern form, was first proposed in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy; who presented
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them within a managerial approach that covered analysis, consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, and planning. Phillip Kotler, popularised this approach and helped spread the 4 Ps model. McCarthy's 4 Ps have been widely adopted by both marketing academics and practitioners.
Marketing Mix is an useful tools used by businesses to achieve marketing goals in the market. McCarthy's marketing mix has since become one of the most enduring and widely accepted frameworks in marketing. Marketing Mix or 4Ps is
categorized according to 4P model, including: Product (product), Price (price), Place (distribution), Promotion (promotion) are used in goods marketing activities (McCarthy, J. 1960). Below will be 4P model in traditional marketing mix
Product (Product) : Product is one of the first marketing mix components in 4p series. It could be a tangible product or some intangile service. Examples of tangible products can be motor vehicles, a smartphone, or a production machine, etc. Examples of intangile products (services) are services like industry,
restaurants, hotels, spas, travel services or bank credit services, ...
Price ( Price): The product price is the cost that the customer has to pay to own / use the product or service ( including market share, competition, material costs, product identification and emotional value of the customer to product). Valuation in today's fiercely competitive environment becomes extremely important and challenging. If product prices are set too low, businesses will have to focus on selling in larger quantities to earn profits. If the price is too high, customers will gradually turn to competitors products. Key factors in price strategy include initial price point, list price, discount rate, payment period, ...
Place (Distribution): Distribution channels are representative of where a product can be traded, displayed, introduced. Distributors can be retailers or e-commerce
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stores on the internet. Owning a distribution system is an important factor to bring products to customers. If businesses do not invest, develop proper distribution channels can waste effort to advertise, produce products without making the market successful.
Promotion (Trade promotion): Sales support activities to ensure that customers are aware of the company's products and services are considered trade promotion.
From a good impression of a product or service, customers will easily conduct real trading transactions, increase conversion rates with potential customers. Activities in this stage include advertising, catalogs, public relations and retail, namely advertising on television, advertising in newspapers, advertising on radio... With larger budgets, businesses. Industry can sponsor TV programs or radio stations that are watched by the public, organize programs for close customers to increase brand awareness with great customers them.