Paper Example on Otis Elevator: Designing, Manufacturing, Serving Aerospace and Building Systems

Introduction

The firm is situated in Farmington, Connecticut based corporation that provides high based technology-based products and services to industries dealing with aerospace and building systems. The system of operation for the company is based on four segments that include; Collins Aerospace, carrier, Otis Elevator and Pratt & Whitney. Each of the section carries specific duties in the company that was founded in 1934. The Otis Elevator entity primary responsibilities include designing, manufacturing, selling elevators moving walkaways, escalator, as well as service (Hawken & Lovins, 2013). Carrier is responsible for enhancing heating, air conditioning, ventilation as well as refrigeration. Pratt & Whitney play the role of producing engines for aircraft dealing with various forms such as commercial, military, and business. Collins Aerospace is the pioneer in terms of technology departments and solutions to the aerospace and defense faculty all over the world.

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Company and Industrial Specifics

As pointed above, the company operates through four segments that have a distinct number of functions. The company is 85 years since its inception, and it is arguably the most diversified entities in Connecticut. It is a global conglomerate providing a wide range of products. Several home manufacturing bases are in Georgia, Maine, and Connecticut. In the present day, the company has 125 engineering centers worldwide including in the United States, Caribbean American, Asia, and Australia (Hawken & Lovins, 2013). The company is estimated to be around $10b engaging about 50000 employees in US and 211500 on a global scale ("United Technologies Corporation PESTEL," n.d). The Company portfolio is well balanced across all segments, markets, and geographies.

SWOT Analysis

United Technologies considers SWOT analysis as a strategic tool of the management of situational evaluation in the entity. Due to the emerging trends in the business environment, it is a reliable tool to identify the company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and future threats.

Strengths

The first strength is the fact that it is one of the oldest and most dominant firms in the technology industry. Recent statistics reveal that the company has registered annual net sales of US $56.5 billion while retaining a workforce of around 200000. Moreover, it spends approximately US$3.9b on Research and Development thus making it the most dominant firm in the industry ("United Technologies SWOT Analysis," n.d.). With its presence felt in every part of the world it is ranked as the 95th best company globally with a large percentage of its markets located in Europe, the United States and East Asia. The company is ranked as the 3rd most admired Aerospace and defense entity ("United Technologies SWOT Analysis," n.d.). Due to this dominance and its publicity, it means that it has significant economies of scale which can utilize to influence markets for their goods and services. The company products are given priority in major markets in the developed and developing the world. The company can apply the strengths by using price control or non-price wars to maintain and expand its influence in the market.

The next strength of United Technologies is their success in research and development after investing heavily on the issue. When comparing United Technology with other rivals research and development aspects are the crucial difference between their levels. For instance, as a result of R&D, Pratt and Whitney were able to invent Power geared turbofan that led to the changes experienced in the Aerospace industry (Hawken & Lovins, 2013). It has significantly contributed to minimizing of about half of the total environmental emission and 16% energy consumption. Moreover, in development, the company has set the system segment to full focus on automation. The company has allocated over billions on research and development, and that is the vast difference with its other rivals.

The company also maintains its strength on its durable distribution, facilities, and potential customers in all corners of the world. The headquarters of UTC is based in the United States but also possess facilities in other areas such as all Europe, East Asia, and the southern American continent. The domestic market only accounts for around 40% of the aggregate sales than the rest shared by other foreign markets "(United Technologies SWOT Analysis, n.d.). In addition to this, the company is under visionary and accountable leadership under the current manager Gregory Hayes appointed after the entity merger deal with the Sundstrand firm. The management plays a significant role in the crucial development process such as the acquisition of entities such as Goodrich firm. Due to its management, the company has implemented reliable acquisition measures. They have performed to expectations in acquiring companies such as Chinese fire alarm and GST strings in the year 2009 as well as clipper windpower entity in 2010 ("United Technologies SWOT Analysis," n.d.).

Weakness

United Technology has its vulnerable areas where it has to improve to maintain its dominant figure status as a technological firm in the world. The debut weakness of the company is poor management of finance and other crucial resources. The company has vast debts with the current asset ratio and liquid ratio suggesting the company can make more improvement in the management of financial resources. Also, the latest rate of returns compared to that of Net Contribution is ranked as below average thus the need for improvement ("United Technologies SWOT Analysis"). The company has lost the grip of a sizeable share of the market thanks to its weakness in addressing emerging problems that are stimulated by new segments entrants. However, the company is concerned about the unique challenges by setting an internal feedback system connected to the sales personnel though it achieved below par expectations.

UTC has found it challenging to register breakthrough in the activities that outside its core domain that is technology. The company performs dismally in other areas despite its global influence and scale with the translation facing harbors due to its contemporary culture. There is evidence of the wide gap in the product range that is offered in the market by UTC. The lack of variety of preferences in most cases benefits close rivals. The situation is made complicated by the inability of the company to make accurate predictions, thus missing opportunities that make competitors gain from the situation ("United Technologies SWOT Analysis," n.d). There is sizeable of resources that the company uses on recruitment and development of new employees due to the high attrition rate among its employees. The company ends by losing experienced employees and spending more money on acquiring new ones.

Opportunities

Various opportunities are within the UTC disposal with debut one being the reduced inflation rate that results in more sustainability in the market. Another significant opportunity for UTC is the emerging technology and advancements that are the key to implemented differentiated marketing approach for its products. It would boost the ability of the company to maintain its potential customers with the quality of service as well as attracting new ones. The company has created an online customer platform that has created a new customer base for the online platform. In recent years, the firm has committed a lot of resources on developing an online platform to streamline interaction between the entity and customers (Ming, Shaojie, Yingjie & Hui, 2014). In the coming future, the company can focus on the investment to understand its customers' interest and effectively respond to their needs. UTC can also gain from emerging changes such as environmental and taxation policies that impact the performance level of any business. It is an excellent advantage for UTC has it will level the industry; thus the firm can utilize their technology resources to dominate the market by providing improved products and services. The sector is faced by changing consumer perceptions and demands that can be a chance for UTC to expand their categories of products to enlarge their profit margin.

Threats

However, despite the company making strides in transforming by changing the trends, several risks seem to have a considerable impact. The debut one is an imitation of counterfeit and substandard goods that might affect its influence in the market shortly. The trend will destroy positive relations with its customers thus influencing the market share. Moreover, there is an insufficient skilled human resource in the market, especially in foreign markets (Ming et al., 2014). In other global areas, there is a lack of adequate experienced people which a threat to the level of returns in such places as the only alternative is importing labor which to some extent expensive.

Moreover, there is an emerging threat of middle distributors that are being favored by the competition as they are earning more returns than UTC. The laws in different countries affect the global market which might make it difficult for the company to succeed in the markets. UTC possess facilities in various parts of the world where there are different cultures which might end to fluctuations in the profits.

Competition Analysis

The aerospace business operated by UTC is subject to stiff competition from home and foreign rivals, as they are boosted by the government to offer subsidies and incentives. For instance, Pratt & Whitney receives a lot of competition for incoming airframe combination. There are increasing joint ventures in the aerospace competition that is making it hard for UTC to influence the market as before. For instance, the International Aero Engines is turning dominant with time as they can provide discounts, financial aid, guarantees, financial decision making and signing agreements (Natalicchio, Petruzzelli & Garavelli, 2014). The factors have a considerable influence on the customer demand for engines thus turning the industry even more competitive.

Besides, change in customer preferences can have a significant impact on adjacent elements such as service and spare parts. In addition to direct competition, the company is facing the problem of diversifying its range of products and services for the benefits of its competitors (Natalicchio et al., 2014). The other players in the market can take advantage of expanding their products increasing their dominance in the market. The local distributors are joining the field and earning excellent returns compared to UTC. They are turning the industry more competitive as the UTC has to cope with their prices to survive in the market.

PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL is a useful tool for the UTC in analyzing the company macro environment. It examines the political, environmental, social, technological, economic and legal aspects of a business that influence the daily operations. Political factors have a significant impact on the performance of UTC Company in the industry. One of the main factors is the political stability that has downplayed the relevance of the Aerospace defense tools coupled with lack of military invasion ("United Technologies Corporation PESTEL," n.d.). Moreover, government policies have a significant impact on the activities of the companies in the industry due to the legal procedure before allowed to purchase the items. There are also anti-trust laws that are being enacted controlling the manufacture of such things. There are a variety of rules such as trade regulations, wage legislation, taxation laws, and tariffs and so on that might influence the performance of UTC.

Economic factors influence the operation of UTC that refers to variables such as inflation, wages,...