Case Study Description of Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy
Tradelink was into the second year of the seven-year franchise granted it by the Hong Kong government. Tradelink's primary task was to transfer all paper transactions between the government and traders/manufacturers to electronic submission format. Furthermore, counters for paper submissions of trade declarations were due to close on March 31, 2000. The task of bringing on board 70,000 traders, the majority of which were small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), seemed immense. At a higher level, Tradelink's mission was to establish an electronic commerce infrastructure within Hong Kong's trading community.
Authors :: Ali F. Farhoomand, Pauline Ng, Kwok-Keung Law, Jan Damsgaard
Swot Analysis of "Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy" written by Ali F. Farhoomand, Pauline Ng, Kwok-Keung Law, Jan Damsgaard includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tradelink's Tradelink facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy casestudy better are - – technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tradelink's Tradelink, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tradelink's Tradelink
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Tradelink's Tradelink
Strengths Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tradelink's Tradelink in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Tradelink's Tradelink
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tradelink's Tradelink does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tradelink's Tradelink is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tradelink's Tradelink to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tradelink's Tradelink to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Tradelink's Tradelink has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tradelink's Tradelink to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tradelink's Tradelink is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tradelink's Tradelink in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Tradelink's Tradelink is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Tradelink's Tradelink is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Tradelink's Tradelink has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tradelink's Tradelink in the sector have low bargaining power. Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tradelink's Tradelink to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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.
Weaknesses Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali F. Farhoomand, Pauline Ng, Kwok-Keung Law, Jan Damsgaard suggests that, Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tradelink's Tradelink 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 - Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tradelink's Tradelink, firm in the HBR case study Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tradelink's Tradelink is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy HBR case study mentions - Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy, in the dynamic environment Tradelink's Tradelink has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tradelink's Tradelink has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tradelink's Tradelink 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. Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy | 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy are -
Loyalty marketing
– Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tradelink's Tradelink can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tradelink's Tradelink operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tradelink's Tradelink can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tradelink's Tradelink in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
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 Tradelink's Tradelink in the consumer business. Now Tradelink's Tradelink can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Tradelink's Tradelink can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tradelink's Tradelink to increase its market reach. Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tradelink's Tradelink 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. Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tradelink's Tradelink has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tradelink's Tradelink to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy case study. Tradelink's Tradelink can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy are -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tradelink's Tradelink 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Tradelink's Tradelink in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
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. Tradelink's Tradelink needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Tradelink's Tradelink in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tradelink's Tradelink has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tradelink's Tradelink needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tradelink's Tradelink is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tradelink's Tradelink with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Tradelink's Tradelink 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. Tradelink's Tradelink can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Increasing wage structure of Tradelink's Tradelink
– 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 Tradelink's Tradelink.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tradelink's Tradelink 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy .
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 Tradelink's Tradelink.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd.: Implementation Strategy 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 Tradelink's Tradelink needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
