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 - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Rule Climate 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.
Analytics focus
– Rule Climate 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 Regina Abrami, Weiqi Zhang 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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rule Climate to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rule Climate to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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 -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rule Climate 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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today, is just above the industry average. Rule Climate needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Regina Abrami, Weiqi Zhang suggests that, Rule Climate 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today, it seems that the employees of Rule Climate 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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today 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 The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Rule Climate is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Rule Climate has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rule Climate to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today case study. Rule Climate can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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 Rule Climate in the consumer business. Now Rule Climate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Rule Climate 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Rule Climate 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, The Xiamen PX Project: the Rule of Contract or Citizens in China Today, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rule Climate 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Rule Climate can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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
– Rule Climate 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.
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.
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 Rule Climate 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.
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.
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 -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rule Climate 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rule Climate 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rule Climate has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rule Climate needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Rule Climate can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
