Greatwalle (8315) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Security Systems & Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Greatwalle (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Greatwalle is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Greatwalle can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Greatwalle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Greatwalle
2. Improving business portfolio management of Greatwalle
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Security Systems & Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Greatwalle
Strengths of Greatwalle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Greatwalle are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Greatwalle 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Greatwalle 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.
Learning organization
- Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Greatwalle emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Greatwalle is present in almost all the verticals within the Security Systems & Services industry. This has provided Greatwalle 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.
High brand equity
– Greatwalle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Greatwalle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Greatwalle has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Greatwalle has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Greatwalle 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Greatwalle comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Security Systems & Services 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 Security Systems & Services
– Greatwalle is one of the leading players in the Security Systems & Services industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Security Systems & Services industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Greatwalle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Greatwalle has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Greatwalle staying ahead in the Security Systems & Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Greatwalle 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 Security Systems & Services industry. The technology infrastructure of Hong Kong is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Security Systems & Services industry
– Greatwalle has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Greatwalle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Greatwalle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Greatwalle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Greatwalle are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Greatwalle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Security Systems & Services industry, but Greatwalle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Greatwalle to focus more on services in the Security Systems & Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Greatwalle products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Greatwalle needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Greatwalle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Greatwalle to provide better information regarding Security Systems & Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in Security Systems & Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Greatwalle has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Greatwalle needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Security Systems & Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Greatwalle can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Greatwalle is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Security Systems & Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Greatwalle 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 Security Systems & Services industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Greatwalle has high operating costs in the Security Systems & Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Greatwalle lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Security Systems & Services industry, Greatwalle 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.
High dependence on Greatwalle ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Greatwalle still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Security Systems & Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Greatwalle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of Greatwalle strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Greatwalle 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Greatwalle, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Security Systems & Services 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.
Greatwalle Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Greatwalle are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Security Systems & Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Greatwalle 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. Greatwalle 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Greatwalle in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Security Systems & Services industry, 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, Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Greatwalle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Greatwalle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Security Systems & Services sector.
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. Greatwalle can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Greatwalle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Greatwalle can utilize new technology in the field of Security Systems & Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Greatwalle 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Greatwalle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Greatwalle to increase its market reach. Greatwalle 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Security Systems & Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Greatwalle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Greatwalle can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Security Systems & Services sector. 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Greatwalle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Security Systems & Services industry. This can help Greatwalle to build a more holistic ecosystem for Greatwalle products in the Security Systems & Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Greatwalle are -
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. Greatwalle needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Security Systems & Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Greatwalle 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 Security Systems & Services industry and other sectors.
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 Greatwalle.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Greatwalle in Security Systems & Services industry. The Security Systems & Services 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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Greatwalle 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 Security Systems & Services industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Greatwalle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Security Systems & Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Greatwalle needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Security Systems & Services 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Security Systems & Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Greatwalle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Greatwalle 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 Security Systems & Services industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Security Systems & Services industry are lowering. It can presents Greatwalle with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Security Systems & Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Greatwalle 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.
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 Greatwalle in the Security Systems & Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Greatwalle Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle 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 Greatwalle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
