Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation

Since 2000, China's Jiuzhai Valley National Park (Jiuzhai Valley) had been experiencing a sharp increase in the volume of tourists it received. The park contributed significantly to the surrounding area's economy: in 2015 and 2016, it contributed more than 60 per cent of the total admission income received from the four major scenic parks within the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. However, pollution and noise due to the influx of visitors presented a constant threat to Jiuzhai Valley's ecosystem and environment. Despite Jiuzhai Valley's fairly advanced and disciplined approach to park management, there was no easy solution to the problem it faced in trying to balance its economic success and sustainable environmental initiatives. Attempts to manage information using digital and smart technologies and "big data" were still in their early stages, and had yet to yield the expected benefits. How could the park balance conservation and development to attain sustainability? H. Brian Hwarng is affiliated with National University of Singapore.

Authors :: H. Brian Hwarng, Jianhua Ran

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Sustainability, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation" written by H. Brian Hwarng, Jianhua Ran includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jiuzhai Park facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Technology & Operations.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jiuzhai Park, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jiuzhai Park 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jiuzhai Park
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 Jiuzhai Park

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Strengths Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Jiuzhai Park in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation Harvard Business Review case study are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jiuzhai Park to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jiuzhai Park to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Jiuzhai Park in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field

– Jiuzhai Park is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Jiuzhai Park in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Jiuzhai Park is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Jiuzhai Park 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation - 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Jiuzhai Park is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Jiuzhai Park 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.

Training and development

– Jiuzhai Park has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Jiuzhai Park has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jiuzhai Park 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Jiuzhai Park is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Jiuzhai Park 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation are -

Need for greater diversity

– Jiuzhai Park 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Jiuzhai Park is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Jiuzhai Park needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jiuzhai Park to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jiuzhai Park 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. Jiuzhai Park 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Jiuzhai Park 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Jiuzhai Park, firm in the HBR case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Park 's lucrative customers.

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 Jiuzhai Park supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jiuzhai Park vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Jiuzhai Park has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Jiuzhai Park 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 - Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Jiuzhai Park is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

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Opportunities Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation | 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Jiuzhai Park 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 Jiuzhai Park 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 Jiuzhai Park to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jiuzhai Park can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jiuzhai Park operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Jiuzhai Park 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jiuzhai Park 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

– Jiuzhai Park 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Jiuzhai Park has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jiuzhai Park to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jiuzhai Park 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.

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 Jiuzhai Park 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jiuzhai Park 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jiuzhai Park to increase its market reach. Jiuzhai Park 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Jiuzhai Park 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 Technology & Operations segment.

Developing new processes and practices

– Jiuzhai Park 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.

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Threats Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation are -

Consumer confidence and its impact on Jiuzhai Park 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Jiuzhai Park has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jiuzhai Park 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Jiuzhai Park can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Environmental challenges

– Jiuzhai Park 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. Jiuzhai Park can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.

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 Jiuzhai Park.

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.

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 Jiuzhai Park in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Regulatory challenges

– Jiuzhai Park 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.

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. Jiuzhai Park needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Jiuzhai Park can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Jiuzhai Park business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Jiuzhai Park will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jiuzhai Park 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Valley National Park: Data-Driven Economic Growth and Ecological Preservation 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 Jiuzhai Park needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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