Schneider Electric Singapore Pte Ltd

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Social

Although Singapore is a bustling & modern cosmopolitan city, it still holds on to several traditional family values. The younger generation on the other hand tends to be more liberal, following cultures from the West.

SE despite being a French multinational giant, adopts a work-life balance mind-set to blend in with the social & cultural aspects of Singapore. Singapore being a multi-cultural society observes 4 different public holidays in line with the ethnic allocation. SE Singapore have a diverse ethnic background of employees to allow better work place cohesion & understanding. This in-turn allows better communication & interaction with SE’s international client portfolios.

According to What About Singapore (n.d.), data taken from Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions indicated that Singapore is a masculine society after scoring high on the Masculinity dimension. The society is goal orientated & is driven by success. In 2013, SE acquired Invensys & underwent organisational restructure (Chan, 2013). One of the hall marks of the restructure was for employees especially the sales wing to receive quarterly bonus based on SE’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

Technological

This aspect of the framework refers to the technological advancements companies invest in to stay on top of industry. There is no disputing that technological advancements have played a very important role is making lives generally easier. Singapore is a society that is always rushed for time, hence speed & efficiency is what is needed here. SE constantly innovates their products & solutions to keep abreast with other competitor’s technological assets. For example, the Modicon M580 created by SE is the world’s faster ePAC with Ethernet built right into its core. There is also an added layer of cyber security to protect the system from hackers or cyber terrorists (Modicon …Controller, n.d.).

SE Singapore has also developed an app for its customers called mySchneider app. According to About MySchneider App, n.d),

“To meet your needs and expectations even better, we have reimagined our popular customer care app. Discover our new mySchneider app which offers tailored services, 24/7 self-service, and easy access to expert support and information” (para. 1).

Environmental

Consumers are increasingly becoming Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment & Water Resource has work tirelessly to reduce our carbon footprint over the past few years. Singapore has pledged to make a 16 percent reduction on carbon emissions by 2020 (Carbon Emissions, 2017).

A ratification of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was done by Singapore in 1997 & later, an endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol in 2006 (Carbon Emissions, 2017).

Over the past few years, SE has done extensive research & innovate products suitable for sustainable developments. SE’s Green Premium ecolabel provides a comprehensive environmental guide to all SE’s products, Product Environmental Profiles (PEPs) for easy tracking of carbon footprint & an End-of-Life instructions for complete guidance on disposing or recycling products & reducing environmental hazards & enhancing operational efficiency (Green Premium, n.d.).

SE’s commitment to the environment includes conservation of limited resources & reducing impact on human lives (Green Premium, n.d.).

Porter’s Five Forces

Competition Rivalry Within an Industry

SE faces a strong force of rivalry from competitors such as Siemens, Honeywell, & ABB. Singapore is in constant need of engineering solutions & a competitive environment will result in price adjustments to win projects but also lower profitability. Price per unit, quality of products & after-sales service is key for SE to be able to keep in par with the competitors especially Siemens which have a greater market share.

SE’s acquisition of Invensys which was previously a market competitor, was essentially a strategic move to improve market positioning. This in turn creates further drive for sustainable market growth.

Threat of New Entrants

SE faces a minimal threat of new entrants as there are a few high entry barriers such as extensive lead time of a minimum of five years to develop an automation technology platform. Inorganic growth is a more sensible option to sustain in the market.

SE has also a strong brand identification & has been a market player for over 170 years & it would be difficult for new entrants to compete with SE.

Threat of Substitutes Products or Services

SE faces a high threat of substitute products as technology continues to advance at an alarming rate. According to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Tharman in Othman (2017), “The whole industry of carbon capture and storage, the whole industry of energy efficiency is taking off. The technologies now make it possible in a way that it didn’t. Even in Singapore today” (para. 4).

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

SE faces a relatively low threat in this force as there are numerous raw materials & semi-finished products readily available in the market. These suppliers compete for smaller competitors & also SE.

SE also manufactures most of their products in France. According to, Wyman (2016), SE’s manufacturing operations are in Grenoble, France & have used it in the past few years for prototyping new solutions.

Bargaining Power of Customers

SE faces a relatively high bargaining power of customers as their products have a minimum order quantity. Many distributors purchase a large amount of the hardware for projects & expect a knock down in the price per unit or better after-sale service.

There are readily available product substitutes from competitors such as Siemens which can potentially offer a lower cost per unit.

Management Recommendations

Switch to Matrix Structure

Currently, the company is at a life cycle stage of elaboration that matches with a proposed matrix structure & responses to the threat & challenges of current times.

A matrix