Bcg Swot Matrix Analysis Strategic Planning

When the company has stepped into the market and is ready to deliver its products or services to the market consumers, it engages itself in evolving. For this purpose, it has to develop strategies that are favorable for its company continually. The strategies are based on the unceasingly changing external factors such as market risk, legal considerations, technological changes, competition, consumer preferences, etc., that shape the competitive landscape each day. Based on the available information from inside and outside the company, the business strategies have to be outlined with planning tools for simplifying, organizing, and focusing on the inputs and outputs. This paper aims at providing an analysis of the significance of the SWOT matrix, BCG matrix, and, I.E., a matrix that would influence recommendations for strategic plans for improving the company’s position.

The significance of the SWOT matrix is that it helps the company create and mix and match all four areas of the matrix to find new opportunities and overcome its threats. SWOT matrix would be valuable in outlining the company’s battle plan. It helps pinpoint its internal strengths and the available resources and compensate itself for the weaknesses for fighting with external forces, like a market rivalry. The company sets itself to realize that there are factors that it cannot control, especially opportunities and threats; however, it still needs to be prepared and develop proactive coping strategies for continuous improvement to minimize threats. For instance, W.O. combines a company’s weaknesses to take advantage of the available market opportunities (Mondal, 2017, p. 164). In Macy’s case, it can improve on its weakness of insignificant technological advancement for capturing the opportunity of market share, product variety, online sales marketing, and customer service.

Similarly, SO strategies could be formulated by analyzing the SWOT matrix to help Macy’s realize its opportunities and capitalize on its existing strengths, such as improving its production efficiency and making the availability quotient high for convenience stores. S.T. strategies could be devised for Macy’s after making a deep analysis of its SWOT matrix by using its internal strengths to minimize its external threats, such as preventing store closures; Macy’s could upgrade its operating income to improve in large stores. The last would be the beneficial W.T. strategies by analyzing the SWOT matrix shrewdly so that internal weakness could be reduced for avoiding external threats. This could be considered in the worst-case scenario, particularly as a defensive strategy when the company’s primary focus would be survival in cut-throat competition. For Macy’s, the SWOT matrix could be of use in this regard as the company can prevent the closure of large stores by launching creative ideas for enhancing product sales within a 3-year plan.

The relevance of the BCG matrix in strategic planning is undeniable as it sets its future course of action for the company. To improve Macy’s position, this matrix’s value should not be ignored since the division into four categories- stars, question marks, cash cows, and dogs- suggests a balanced proportion of the firm’s range (Hossain & Kader, 2020). For Macy’s, the matrix helped determine its real positioning within the market in relevance to the four divisions, which is in the top left corner of stars with a high industry growth rate and high relative market share position. The firm could allocate resources accordingly in the women’s apparel industry as it has to maintain and sustain its product quality to meet its customers’ expectations, particularly the loyal ones. To prevent the loyal customers from being lured away by the rivals and attracting new ones, Macy’s has to rely on the BCG matrix to gain optimum financial and strategic benefits. With the correct estimation of market share and growth rate, Macy’s would create maximum value for its product. To produce large volumes of quality products, the company would have to investigate its BCG matrix to obtain experience effects deeply. The portfolio decisions could only be made when the company understands this strategic management tool for deciding upon intelligent future actions and making the right decisions based on its available resources, market position, and share.