The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today
This case examines the effect of environmental activism on China's investment climate, focusing on the petrochemical sector. It shows how tensions between a country's national economic development goals and political constraints make for a more unpredictable investment climate, despite considerable improvements in the rule of law within China. This case is suitable for courses in international business, business and society, and doing business in China and/or the developing world.
Swot Analysis of "The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today" written by Regina Abrami, Weiqi Zhang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rule Climate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, International business, Policy, Sustainability and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rule Climate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rule Climate 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rule Climate
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Rule Climate
Strengths The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rule Climate in The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rule Climate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rule Climate 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rule Climate in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Rule Climate 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 Rule Climate in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Rule Climate is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rule Climate digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rule Climate has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Rule Climate has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rule Climate 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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.
Training and development
– Rule Climate has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 Rule Climate in the sector have low bargaining power. The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rule Climate to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Rule Climate has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rule Climate to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Rule Climate
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rule Climate does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Rule Climate 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rule Climate 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Rule Climate 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Rule Climate products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Rule Climate needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today HBR case study mentions - Rule Climate 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Rule Climate 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. Rule Climate even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Rule Climate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Rule Climate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rule Climate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 Rule Climate has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Rule Climate 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rule Climate 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.
Opportunities The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today | 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rule Climate 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rule Climate to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Rule Climate 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. Rule Climate 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Rule Climate can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Rule Climate can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rule Climate to increase its market reach. Rule Climate 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Rule Climate can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rule Climate 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 Global Business segment.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rule Climate in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rule Climate can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rule Climate is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rule Climate can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rule Climate operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rule Climate can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rule Climate 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 Rule Climate to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rule Climate 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today .
Regulatory challenges
– Rule Climate 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 Global Business 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. Rule Climate needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rule Climate is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Rule Climate 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.
Environmental challenges
– Rule Climate 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. Rule Climate can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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 Rule Climate in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Rule Climate
– 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 Rule Climate.
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 Rule Climate business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Rule Climate.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rule Climate 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rule Climate with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today, Rule Climate may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 Rule Climate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.