Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China
The marketing manager of Jewellworld.com was faced with the problem of a saturated Hong Kong market, and has to consider ways in which to expand the business. In a meeting with the marketing director, who was responsible for the development of the Hong Kong and Chinese jewelry markets, one of the main topics was the expansion of the online shopping strategy into the B2C area in China; however, the staff of the marketing department held different views. The immediate question was whether Jewellworld.com should move into the B2C area at full speed or wait and see how other competitors fared in the China online market. The other issue was the segmentation that Jewellworld should employ if they decide to enter the B2C market in China. A competitor had established retail stores across China. The question was whether Jewellworld should aim to cover all market segments and product lines, or target young people who tend to use the Internet more frequently.
Swot Analysis of "Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China" written by Shigefumi Makino, Anthony Fong includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jewellworld.com Jewellworld, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jewellworld.com Jewellworld operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld
Strengths Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Learning organization
- Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld in the sector have low bargaining power. Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Jewellworld.com Jewellworld are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld, firm in the HBR case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China, in the dynamic environment Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Shigefumi Makino, Anthony Fong suggests that, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Jewellworld.com Jewellworld in the consumer business. Now Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Loyalty marketing
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to increase its market reach. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jewellworld.com Jewellworld to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Threats Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Jewellworld.com Jewellworld in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Jewellworld.com Jewellworld with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Jewellworld.com Jewellworld business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jewellworld.com Jewellworld demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Jewellworld.com Jewellworld can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Jewellworld.com--Online Jewelry Shopping in China is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Jewellworld.com Jewellworld needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.