A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian
"Any important port in the world that has container handling operations should have container machinery made in China." With this dream, Guan Tongxian who was 59 years old came to Shanghai, leading thirteen people from Shanghai Port Machinery Company to start a difficult venture with one million US dollars. Today, ZPMC has assets of over 7 billion US dollars. However, he makes only 50,000 US dollars a year without holding any equities. He has kept such a low profile that even MBA programs in top Chinese universities might not be aware of his success. Chinese traditional culture has been playing an influential role in the personal growth of Guan Tongxian. Guan was influenced by the old generation of intellectuals in his childhood: "At that time, there were old Xiucai and Jinshi in Beijing, and I followed them to learn Chinese poems and listen to them speaking of Confucianism that promotes an idea of 'cultivating oneself, putting family in order, ruling the country and giving peace to the world.'"
Swot Analysis of "A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian" written by Baiyin Yang, Ang Gao, Lu Chen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Guan Tongxian facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Leadership, Managing organizations and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guan Tongxian, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guan Tongxian
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Guan Tongxian
Strengths A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Guan Tongxian in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Guan Tongxian is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Guan Tongxian has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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.
Analytics focus
– Guan Tongxian 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 Baiyin Yang, Ang Gao, Lu Chen 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Guan Tongxian to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Guan Tongxian to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Guan Tongxian has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Guan Tongxian 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 Guan Tongxian in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Guan Tongxian is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Guan Tongxian digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Guan Tongxian 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
– Guan Tongxian has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Guan Tongxian 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Guan Tongxian 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.
Weaknesses A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Guan Tongxian 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Guan Tongxian products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Guan Tongxian needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Guan Tongxian 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 Guan Tongxian is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Guan Tongxian needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Guan Tongxian to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guan Tongxian 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. Guan Tongxian 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Baiyin Yang, Ang Gao, Lu Chen suggests that, Guan Tongxian 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Guan Tongxian is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian HBR case study mentions - Guan Tongxian 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Guan Tongxian 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Guan Tongxian 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.
Opportunities A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian | 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian are -
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. Guan Tongxian can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Guan Tongxian can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Guan Tongxian in the consumer business. Now Guan Tongxian can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Guan Tongxian in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Guan Tongxian 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, A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Guan Tongxian to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Guan Tongxian 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guan Tongxian 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.
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 Guan Tongxian 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Guan Tongxian can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Guan Tongxian can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Guan Tongxian operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Guan Tongxian can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Guan Tongxian 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Threats A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian are -
Regulatory challenges
– Guan Tongxian 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian, Guan Tongxian may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Guan Tongxian.
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 Guan Tongxian in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Guan Tongxian 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. Guan Tongxian can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Guan Tongxian with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Guan Tongxian needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Guan Tongxian 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Guan Tongxian has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Guan Tongxian needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 Guan Tongxian is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Guan Tongxian
– 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 Guan Tongxian.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Guan Tongxian in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 A Late Bloomer: ZPMC CEO Guan Tongxian 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 Guan Tongxian needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.