Century Sage Scientific (1450) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Century Sage Scientific (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Century Sage Scientific is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Century Sage Scientific

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Century Sage Scientific can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Century Sage Scientific, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Century Sage Scientific 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Century Sage Scientific can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Century Sage Scientific
2. Improving business portfolio management of Century Sage Scientific
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Computer Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Century Sage Scientific

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Strengths of Century Sage Scientific | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Century Sage Scientific are -

Strong track record of project management in the Computer Services industry

– Century Sage Scientific is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Century Sage Scientific in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Computer Services

– Century Sage Scientific is one of the leading players in the Computer Services industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Services industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Century Sage Scientific in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High brand equity

– Century Sage Scientific has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Century Sage Scientific to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Services industry

– Century Sage Scientific has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Century Sage Scientific to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Century Sage Scientific to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Century Sage Scientific comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Century Sage Scientific in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Century Sage Scientific has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Century Sage Scientific to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Century Sage Scientific has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Century Sage Scientific have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Century Sage Scientific is one of the leading players in the Computer Services 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Century Sage Scientific 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

- Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Century Sage Scientific emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Century Sage Scientific 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.

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Weaknesses of Century Sage Scientific | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Century Sage Scientific are -

High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Century Sage Scientific 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 Computer Services industry.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Century Sage Scientific has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Services industry over the last five years. Century Sage Scientific 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Century Sage Scientific strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Century Sage Scientific 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Century Sage Scientific, in the dynamic environment of Computer Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Century Sage Scientific has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Century Sage Scientific, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Computer 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Century Sage Scientific needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Century Sage Scientific can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Century Sage Scientific is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Century Sage Scientific is just above the Computer Services industry average. It 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.

Skills based hiring in Computer Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Century Sage Scientific 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Century Sage Scientific is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Services industry, but Century Sage Scientific needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Century Sage Scientific to focus more on services in the Computer Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

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 Century Sage Scientific supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Century Sage Scientific is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Century Sage Scientific vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Century Sage Scientific is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Century Sage Scientific to provide better information regarding Computer Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

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Century Sage Scientific Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Century Sage Scientific are -

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Century Sage Scientific has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Services industry. This can help Century Sage Scientific to build a more holistic ecosystem for Century Sage Scientific products in the Computer Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Century Sage Scientific 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Computer Services industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Century Sage Scientific in the Computer Services industry. Now Century Sage Scientific can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Century Sage Scientific is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Century Sage Scientific can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Developing new processes and practices

– Century Sage Scientific can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Services 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Century Sage Scientific 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.

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. Century Sage Scientific can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Century Sage Scientific has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Century Sage Scientific to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Century Sage Scientific to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Century Sage Scientific 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. Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific 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 Computer Services industry.

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Threats Century Sage Scientific External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Century Sage Scientific are -

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Century Sage Scientific 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 Computer Services industry.

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. Century Sage Scientific 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Century Sage Scientific 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents Century Sage Scientific with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Services sector.

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 Century Sage Scientific.

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 Century Sage Scientific business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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. Century Sage Scientific needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing wage structure of Century Sage Scientific

– 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 Century Sage Scientific.

Regulatory challenges

– Century Sage Scientific 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 Computer Services industry regulations.

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 Century Sage Scientific in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Environmental challenges

– Century Sage Scientific 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. Century Sage Scientific can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Services industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Century Sage Scientific has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Century Sage Scientific needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Century Sage Scientific 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 Computer Services industry and other sectors.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Century Sage Scientific Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific 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 Century Sage Scientific needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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