Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China
Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings ("Phoenix TV") was established in 2006 as a joint venture with News Corporation's ("News Corp's") STAR TV unit and Liu Changle, a Shanghai businessman and former military journalist, as the major stakeholders. Presenting its family of channels as the Chinese TV viewers' window to the world, Phoenix TV was able to capitalize on ambiguities in China's regulatory environment and (with tacit consent from the authorities) was the only foreign TV broadcaster to target news programming at mainland Chinese viewers. In China, where significant restrictions existed on audience measurement and advertising was still a young business, ad sales were largely driven by a media outlet's image. Phoenix TV claimed an audience comprising China's highly educated, high-income, urban elite. The broadcaster's access to the highly coveted Chinese market far surpassed that of foreign media groups such as Time Warner and Viacom. Yet its share of viewing, on a national basis, trailed behind that of the state broadcaster, CCTV, and large domestic media groups, who were raising production standards and winning over audiences with dramatic programming. Phoenix TV's management was mindful of looming developments on the horizon: the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting, the further liberalization of China's media industry, and the gradual roll-out of digital TV networks around the country, which would increase demand for content and provide new possibilities for subscription-based TV. Above all, Phoenix TV's chairman, Liu Changle, was concerned that the broadcaster was overly dependent on advertising revenue. In June 2006, China Mobile acquired a 19.9% stake in Phoenix TV from News Corp. Through a new alliance, Phoenix TV hoped to branch out into new media as a content provider for China's largest mobile operator.
Swot Analysis of "Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China" written by Yuen-ming Chan, Amir Hoosian includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Phoenix Tv facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Phoenix Tv, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Phoenix Tv
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 Phoenix Tv
Strengths Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Phoenix Tv in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Phoenix Tv in the sector have low bargaining power. Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Phoenix Tv to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Tv is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Phoenix Tv 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Phoenix Tv is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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.
Organizational Resilience of Phoenix Tv
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Phoenix Tv does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Phoenix Tv has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Phoenix Tv has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Phoenix Tv 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 Yuen-ming Chan, Amir Hoosian 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Phoenix Tv 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
– Phoenix Tv is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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.
Weaknesses Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Tv has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Phoenix Tv 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yuen-ming Chan, Amir Hoosian suggests that, Phoenix Tv 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Phoenix Tv 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. Phoenix Tv 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Phoenix Tv is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Phoenix Tv 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.
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 Phoenix Tv supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Phoenix Tv vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Phoenix Tv is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China, it seems that the employees of Phoenix Tv don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Phoenix Tv 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China, in the dynamic environment Phoenix Tv has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Phoenix Tv has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Phoenix Tv 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, Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Phoenix Tv is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Phoenix Tv can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Tv to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Phoenix Tv 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Phoenix Tv 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.
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. Phoenix Tv 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. Phoenix Tv 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Phoenix Tv 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.
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 Phoenix Tv in the consumer business. Now Phoenix Tv can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Phoenix Tv can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Phoenix Tv 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Phoenix Tv 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Phoenix Tv to increase its market reach. Phoenix Tv 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.
Threats Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China are -
Increasing wage structure of Phoenix Tv
– 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 Phoenix Tv.
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 Phoenix Tv.
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 Phoenix Tv in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Phoenix Tv has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Phoenix Tv needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Phoenix Tv business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Phoenix Tv 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Phoenix Tv with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Phoenix Tv 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. Phoenix Tv can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Phoenix Tv 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Phoenix Tv 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting in China .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Phoenix Tv 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Satellite Television: The Art of Broadcasting 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 Phoenix Tv needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
