5.

2 SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Monopoly of mail delivery services (excluding courier services) Network of over 1,000 outlets/access points. Competitive pricing against other courier service providers. Opportunities Increase in online purchasing. (http://www.wwwmetrics.com/shoppin g.htm) Local brand name cater to consumers taste Weaknesses Late delivery. High carbon emission. (high fuel cost)

Threats Increasing in the usage of e-mails and online transactions. Emerging courier service providers which directly compete with PosLaju.

SWOT analysis is important in assessing strategic business plans and it is commonly being used in most of the companies nowadays. Besides that, a businesss resources and environment and also the business itself can be analysed through SWOT analysis (Antony 2012). It includes the environmental analysis and organisational analysis. Environmental analysis is the process of scanning the business environment for threats and opportunities (external factors) while the organisational analysis is the process of identifying a firms strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) (Weihrich 1982). 5.2.1 STRENGTHS Antony (2012) defined strengths as the internal strong points of a company which allow the company to do well over its competitors and make them find it difficult to compete. One of the strengths of Pos Malaysia is that it has a competitive pricing against other courier service companies. Pos Malaysia offers a cheaper rate of services compare to its competitors. Forexample, PosLaju which is under the Pos Malaysia company charges c.RM 3.50 RM 7.00for the first 500 grams for domestic courier services for next day arrival however other private courier companies charge at a higher rate for the same parcel and delivery time which is c.RM 15- RM60 (HuangDBS 2012).

Besides that, Pos Malaysia has a retail network of more than 1,000 outlets throughout Malaysia (Pos Malaysia 2011). This also shows that Pos Malaysia has been a successful monopoly company in the national postal industry with its large number of outlets and lower rate for delivery.

5.2.2 WEAKNESSES Weaknesses are basically the weak points of a company and are the factors which do not meet the requirement they expected to meet (Antony 2012). One of most common problems courier service providers facing is late delivery. Thestar online (2005) mentioned that they received complaints from readers regarding the late delivery issues. Letters supposed to be delivered within 2-3 days took up around 1 week time. Another weakness of Pos Malaysia is that

5.2.3 OPPORTUNITIES Opportunities are presented by the environment within which our organisation operates and may arise from market, competition, industry/government and technology (Antony 2012). The increase in online purchasing nowadays is an opportunity for Pos Malaysia. There was a forecast by IBIS World research saying that there will be an increase of 8.6% in online sales per year during the next five years (WWWMetrics 2012). An increase in online purchasing indicates an increase in courier services.

Antony, J 2012, A SWOT Analysis on Six Sigma: some perspectives from leading academics and practitioners, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 691-698. HuangDBSVickels Research 2012, Company Focus - Pos Malaysia, viewed on 23 March 2013, <http://einvest.hdbs.com.my/ArchiveCompanyFocus/1.%20Company%20Focus/By%20Company%20Name/Counter%20Name%20M%20%20Z/POS%20Malaysia%2020120803%20Initiate.pdf>. Pos Malaysia http://www.pos.com.my/pos/about_us/network/overview/drive.aspx Thestar Online 2005, Consumers ruffled by new mail rates, Star Publication (M) Bhd, viewed 12 April 2013, <http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=%2F2005%2F5%2F25%2Ffeatures%2F10835 543&sec=features>. Weihrich, H 1982, The TOWS matrix: a tool for situational analysis, Journal of Long Range Planning, vol. 15, no. 2. WWWMetrics 2012, The Growth of Online Shopping, WWW Metrics, viewed 12 April 2013, <http://www.wwwmetrics.com/shopping.htm>.