Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth
A company established in 1991 by an entrepreneur has emerged as one of Hong Kong's biggest technology providers in 2000. Computer and Technologies Holdings Ltd. (C&T) (www.ctil.com) transformed from a systems integrator for the People's Republic of China (PRC) telecommunications sector to a full-range technology service provider in China and Hong Kong. In 1998, C&T became a publicly listed company and since then experienced tremendous growth. The business boasted profits that grew at double- to triple-digit annual rates. C&T was in transition in early 2000, positioning itself to capture the e-business opportunities in China and Hong Kong. It introduced new business units, changed the nature of its products and services, and created alliances. These changes, however, present a number of challenges to Ng Cheung Shing, founder, CEO, and chairman of C&T, and his management team. Ng Cheung Shing is uncertain how he is going to manage these changes, although he is aware of the need to create an appropriate strategic plan to manage C&T in the evolving business order.
Swot Analysis of "Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth" written by Ali F. Farhoomand, Marissa McCauley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ng Shing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, IT and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ng Shing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ng Shing 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ng Shing
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 Ng Shing
Strengths Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ng Shing in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ng Shing 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
– Ng Shing is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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.
Analytics focus
– Ng Shing 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 Ali F. Farhoomand, Marissa McCauley 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ng Shing in the sector have low bargaining power. Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ng Shing to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Ng Shing
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ng Shing does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ng Shing 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ng Shing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ng Shing 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Ng Shing has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ng Shing is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ng Shing is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ng Shing 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth, it seems that the employees of Ng Shing 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 Ng Shing 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Ng Shing 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ng Shing has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali F. Farhoomand, Marissa McCauley suggests that, Ng Shing 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.
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 Ng Shing supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ng Shing vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth HBR case study mentions - Ng Shing takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ng Shing is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Ng Shing needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ng Shing to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ng Shing 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ng Shing products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ng Shing needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth | 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth are -
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. Ng Shing can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ng Shing can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ng Shing operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ng Shing can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ng Shing 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ng Shing 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, Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ng Shing 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.
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. Ng Shing 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. Ng Shing 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 Ng Shing to increase its market reach. Ng Shing 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.
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 Ng Shing in the consumer business. Now Ng Shing can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ng Shing is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ng Shing has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ng Shing to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth case study. Ng Shing can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ng Shing 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ng Shing 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.
Threats Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ng Shing 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ng Shing 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 Ng Shing with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Ng Shing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ng Shing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ng Shing 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth, Ng Shing 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ng Shing 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ng Shing 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ng Shing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ng Shing 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ng Shing 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Computer and Technologies: Managing High Growth 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 Ng Shing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
