China Hongkong Photo Products (1123) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Photography
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for China Hongkong Photo Products (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , China Hongkong Photo Products is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of China Hongkong Photo Products
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that China Hongkong Photo Products can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the China Hongkong Photo Products, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which China Hongkong Photo Products 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 China Hongkong Photo Products can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of China Hongkong Photo Products
2. Improving business portfolio management of China Hongkong Photo Products
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Photography sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of China Hongkong Photo Products
Strengths of China Hongkong Photo Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of China Hongkong Photo Products are -
Digital Transformation in Photography industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For China Hongkong Photo Products digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Photography industry
– China Hongkong Photo Products has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled China Hongkong Photo Products to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Photography industry. The sustainable margins have also helped China Hongkong Photo Products to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of China Hongkong Photo Products
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing China Hongkong Photo Products does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– China Hongkong Photo Products has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – China Hongkong Photo Products staying ahead in the Photography industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– China Hongkong Photo Products is present in almost all the verticals within the Photography industry. This has provided China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– China Hongkong Photo Products is one of the leading players in the Photography industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Photography
– China Hongkong Photo Products is one of the leading players in the Photography industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Photography industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled China Hongkong Photo Products in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– China Hongkong Photo Products has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Photography industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of China Hongkong Photo Products have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– China Hongkong Photo Products has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled China Hongkong Photo Products to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of China Hongkong Photo Products comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Photography 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.
Weaknesses of China Hongkong Photo Products | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of China Hongkong Photo Products are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that China Hongkong Photo Products needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Photography industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at China Hongkong Photo Products can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as China Hongkong Photo Products is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, China Hongkong Photo Products is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help China Hongkong Photo Products to provide better information regarding Photography products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though China Hongkong Photo Products has some of the most successful models in the Photography industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. China Hongkong Photo Products should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of China Hongkong Photo Products, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Photography industry. 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.
Need for greater diversity
– China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Photography industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, China Hongkong Photo Products 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 Photography industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, China Hongkong Photo Products has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Photography industry over the last five years. China Hongkong Photo Products 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 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 China Hongkong Photo Products supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, China Hongkong Photo Products is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left China Hongkong Photo Products vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
China Hongkong Photo Products has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Photography 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As China Hongkong Photo Products is one of the leading players in the Photography industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Photography industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of China Hongkong Photo Products products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, China Hongkong Photo Products needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
China Hongkong Photo Products Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of China Hongkong Photo Products are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Photography industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for China Hongkong Photo Products in the Photography industry. Now China Hongkong Photo Products can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, China Hongkong Photo Products is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. China Hongkong Photo Products can utilize new technology in the field of Photography industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. China Hongkong Photo Products can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects China Hongkong Photo Products can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at China Hongkong Photo Products 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 Photography industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for China Hongkong Photo Products in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Photography industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– China Hongkong Photo Products can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Photography industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Photography industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. China Hongkong Photo Products 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. China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– China Hongkong Photo Products can develop new processes and procedures in Photography 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.
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 China Hongkong Photo Products 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, China Hongkong Photo Products can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that China Hongkong Photo Products operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Photography sector.
Threats China Hongkong Photo Products External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of China Hongkong Photo Products are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on China Hongkong Photo Products 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 Photography industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for China Hongkong Photo Products in Photography industry. The Photography 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.
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 China Hongkong Photo Products.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that China Hongkong Photo Products is facing in Photography sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Photography industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. China Hongkong Photo Products can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. China Hongkong Photo Products needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Photography industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– China Hongkong Photo Products 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 Photography industry.
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, China Hongkong Photo Products may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Photography sector.
Increasing wage structure of China Hongkong Photo Products
– 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 China Hongkong Photo Products.
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 China Hongkong Photo Products business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Photography industry are lowering. It can presents China Hongkong Photo Products with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Photography 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 China Hongkong Photo Products Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at China Hongkong Photo Products 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 China Hongkong Photo Products 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 China Hongkong Photo Products 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 China Hongkong Photo Products 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 China Hongkong Photo Products needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
