A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version
Now into their third year at the helm of an Internet start-up in China, Ken Pao and Bill Li were managing a totally different company (with a new name) from the one they first founded in 2006. Having changed their business model from a social networking site to an online gaming business came with new challenges. They hired almost an entirely new staff, cultivated new partnerships, and most urgently sought new funding. However, with three years of experience, they were no longer a "start-up" and now faced the ramifications of mid-life. What would it take to remain a viable competitor in China in a new industry?
Authors :: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Tracy Yuen Manty
Swot Analysis of "A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version" written by William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Tracy Yuen Manty includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 99sushe.com Start facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Internet, Venture capital and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 99sushe.com Start, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 99sushe.com Start 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 99sushe.com Start
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 99sushe.com Start
Strengths A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 99sushe.com Start in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– 99sushe.com Start has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled 99sushe.com Start to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– 99sushe.com Start is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– 99sushe.com Start 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 A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 99sushe.com Start to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 99sushe.com Start to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of 99sushe.com Start
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 99sushe.com Start does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– 99sushe.com Start has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 99sushe.com Start 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)
– 99sushe.com Start 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of 99sushe.com Start in the sector have low bargaining power. A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps 99sushe.com Start to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– 99sushe.com Start 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 99sushe.com Start in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– 99sushe.com Start has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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.
Innovation driven organization
– 99sushe.com Start is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
99sushe.com Start 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as 99sushe.com Start is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 99sushe.com Start 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version, is just above the industry average. 99sushe.com Start 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, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Tracy Yuen Manty suggests that, 99sushe.com Start 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.
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 99sushe.com Start supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left 99sushe.com Start vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of 99sushe.com Start products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, 99sushe.com Start 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, 99sushe.com Start 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. 99sushe.com Start 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version, in the dynamic environment 99sushe.com Start has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. 99sushe.com Start has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, 99sushe.com Start 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version | 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– 99sushe.com Start 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.
Manufacturing automation
– 99sushe.com Start can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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 99sushe.com Start 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.
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. 99sushe.com Start 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 99sushe.com Start to increase its market reach. 99sushe.com Start 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.
Loyalty marketing
– 99sushe.com Start 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for 99sushe.com Start 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, 99sushe.com Start can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that 99sushe.com Start operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, 99sushe.com Start 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. 99sushe.com Start 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. 99sushe.com Start 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for 99sushe.com Start 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 99sushe.com Start to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 99sushe.com Start 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 99sushe.com Start to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– 99sushe.com Start can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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.
Threats A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version are -
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 99sushe.com Start in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version, 99sushe.com Start 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– 99sushe.com Start 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.
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 99sushe.com Start 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.
Regulatory challenges
– 99sushe.com Start 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.
Increasing wage structure of 99sushe.com Start
– 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 99sushe.com Start.
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 99sushe.com Start business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 99sushe.com Start 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– 99sushe.com Start has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, 99sushe.com Start 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– 99sushe.com Start 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 99sushe.com Start with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 Chinese Start-up's Midlife Crisis: 99Sushe.com, Chinese Version 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 99sushe.com Start needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
