Joysun at the Crossroads SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Joysun at the Crossroads
Joysun was established as a state-owned enterprise in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in China in 1995. Thanks to the effective leadership of its general manager and to the monopolistic nature of the Chinese import and export industry in the mid-1990s, the company had grown rapidly from a shop with five employees in its early days to a major player in the logistics industry by the end of 2012. However, Joysun's journey had been rocky due to the profound and rapid transformation of the Chinese economy over the 17 years of the company's existence. By the end of 2012, the company had several projects underway to consolidate its market position. Nevertheless, the management team felt that it should undertake more initiatives in order to sustain Joysun's leadership over time. More specifically, the general manager wondered whether Joysun should enter the cold chain segment of the logistics industry. Considering the country- and industry-level context, what was the strategic relevance and operational feasibility of Joysun entering this new segment? William Wei is affiliated with Grant MacEwan College
Swot Analysis of "Joysun at the Crossroads" written by William Wei, Ali Taleb, Kaijin Nie includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Joysun Joysun's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Joysun at the Crossroads case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Joysun at the Crossroads casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Joysun at the Crossroads
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Joysun at the Crossroads case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Joysun Joysun's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun at the Crossroads can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Joysun at the Crossroads case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Joysun Joysun's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Joysun Joysun's
Strengths Joysun at the Crossroads | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Joysun Joysun's in Joysun at the Crossroads Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun Joysun's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Joysun Joysun's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Joysun Joysun's 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.
Analytics focus
– Joysun Joysun's 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 William Wei, Ali Taleb, Kaijin Nie 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Joysun Joysun's 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Joysun at the Crossroads 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Joysun Joysun's in the sector have low bargaining power. Joysun at the Crossroads has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Joysun Joysun's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Joysun Joysun's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Training and development
– Joysun Joysun's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Joysun at the Crossroads 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Joysun Joysun's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Joysun at the Crossroads are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Joysun Joysun's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Joysun Joysun's 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.
Organizational Resilience of Joysun Joysun's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Joysun Joysun's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Joysun Joysun's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Joysun Joysun's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Joysun at the Crossroads Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Joysun at the Crossroads | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Joysun at the Crossroads are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun Joysun's 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun Joysun's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Joysun at the Crossroads HBR case study mentions - Joysun Joysun's 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Joysun at the Crossroads, in the dynamic environment Joysun Joysun's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Joysun Joysun's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Joysun at the Crossroads, it seems that the employees of Joysun Joysun's 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Joysun Joysun's 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Joysun Joysun's 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. Joysun Joysun's 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Joysun Joysun's, firm in the HBR case study Joysun at the Crossroads needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Joysun Joysun's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Joysun at the Crossroads should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun at the Crossroads can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Joysun Joysun's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun at the Crossroads | 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 Joysun at the Crossroads are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Joysun Joysun's to increase its market reach. Joysun Joysun's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Joysun Joysun's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Joysun Joysun's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Joysun Joysun's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Joysun Joysun's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Joysun at the Crossroads case study. Joysun Joysun's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Joysun Joysun's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Joysun Joysun's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Joysun at the Crossroads 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Joysun Joysun's 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Joysun Joysun's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun Joysun's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Joysun Joysun's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Joysun Joysun's can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Joysun Joysun's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Joysun at the Crossroads 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Joysun Joysun's to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Threats Joysun at the Crossroads External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Joysun at the Crossroads are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Joysun Joysun's 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 Joysun at the Crossroads .
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 Joysun Joysun's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Joysun Joysun's 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. Joysun Joysun's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Joysun Joysun's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Joysun Joysun's.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Joysun Joysun's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Joysun Joysun's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Joysun at the Crossroads, Joysun Joysun's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Joysun Joysun's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Joysun Joysun's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Joysun Joysun's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Joysun Joysun's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Joysun Joysun's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun at the Crossroads 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 Joysun Joysun's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
