Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand
In 2002, Neo Sia Meng took over as Executive Director of Four Star Industries Private Limited founded three decades earlier by his parents. After joining the family business as Director in 1996, Sia Meng saw several local and foreign mattress manufacturers enter the Singapore market. This intensified the competition in the local market which was already seasonal and volatile. The increased competition resulted in a proliferation of product offerings from all the manufacturers. The local dealers who dominated the retail mattress market sought an exclusive range of in-house models from the local manufacturers. As Four Star depended heavily on the local dealers, it tried to accommodate their demands to increase its product range and service level. However, as Four Star substantially increased the variety of mattress offerings, its operations became chaotic, and matching demand with the correct inventory of mattresses became a significant challenge. The order fulfillment problems created significant pressures on the manufacturing operations and Sia Meng was worried that these operational problems might provoke some of his long serving employees to consider leaving the company. Sia Meng pondered the short and long term options for Four Star to move towards a responsive, but cost-effective operations model.
Swot Analysis of "Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand" written by S. Viswanathan, D.G. Allampalli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Meng Sia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Strategy, Supply chain and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Meng Sia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Meng Sia 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Meng Sia
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Meng Sia
Strengths Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Meng Sia in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Meng Sia 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 Meng Sia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Meng Sia is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by S. Viswanathan, D.G. Allampalli can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High brand equity
– Meng Sia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Meng Sia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Meng Sia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Meng Sia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Meng Sia has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Meng Sia has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Meng Sia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Meng Sia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Meng Sia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Meng Sia to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Meng Sia to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Meng Sia in the sector have low bargaining power. Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Meng Sia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Meng Sia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand, in the dynamic environment Meng Sia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Meng Sia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Meng Sia, firm in the HBR case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Meng Sia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Meng Sia has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Meng Sia needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Meng Sia 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Meng Sia 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. Meng Sia 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Meng Sia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Meng Sia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Meng Sia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Meng Sia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Meng Sia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Meng Sia has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Meng Sia 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.
Opportunities Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand | 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Meng Sia 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Meng Sia to increase its market reach. Meng Sia 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Meng Sia can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Meng Sia 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 Meng Sia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Meng Sia 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Meng Sia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Meng Sia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Meng Sia in the consumer business. Now Meng Sia can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Meng Sia can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Meng Sia in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Meng Sia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Meng Sia can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Meng Sia 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. Meng Sia 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.
Threats Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Meng Sia is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Meng Sia.
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. Meng Sia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Meng Sia high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Meng Sia 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Meng Sia 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.
Increasing wage structure of Meng Sia
– 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 Meng Sia.
Regulatory challenges
– Meng Sia 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Meng Sia in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand, Meng Sia may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Environmental challenges
– Meng Sia 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. Meng Sia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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 Four Star Industries Singapore - Matching Supply with Demand 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 Meng Sia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.