1957 & Co Hospitality (8495) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for 1957 & Co Hospitality (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , 1957 & Co Hospitality is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of 1957 & Co Hospitality

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that 1957 & Co Hospitality can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 1957 & Co Hospitality, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of 1957 & Co Hospitality
2. Improving business portfolio management of 1957 & Co Hospitality
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Restaurants sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of 1957 & Co Hospitality

---

Strengths of 1957 & Co Hospitality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of 1957 & Co Hospitality are -

Training and development

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– 1957 & Co Hospitality has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Restaurants industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of 1957 & Co Hospitality have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Restaurants industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For 1957 & Co Hospitality digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Innovation driven organization

– 1957 & Co Hospitality is one of the most innovative firm in Restaurants sector.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Restaurants industry

– 1957 & Co Hospitality has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 1957 & Co Hospitality to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Restaurants industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 1957 & Co Hospitality to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– 1957 & Co Hospitality is one of the leading players in the Restaurants 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– 1957 & Co Hospitality is present in almost all the verticals within the Restaurants industry. This has provided 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 lead change in Restaurants

– 1957 & Co Hospitality is one of the leading players in the Restaurants industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Restaurants industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled 1957 & Co Hospitality in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Strong track record of project management in the Restaurants industry

– 1957 & Co Hospitality is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– 1957 & Co Hospitality has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – 1957 & Co Hospitality staying ahead in the Restaurants industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Learning organization

- 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at 1957 & Co Hospitality emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

---

---

Weaknesses of 1957 & Co Hospitality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of 1957 & Co Hospitality are -

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 1957 & Co Hospitality supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, 1957 & Co Hospitality is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left 1957 & Co Hospitality vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Restaurants industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 Restaurants industry.

Need for greater diversity

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Employees’ less understanding of 1957 & Co Hospitality strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, 1957 & Co Hospitality has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that 1957 & Co Hospitality needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Restaurants industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at 1957 & Co Hospitality can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as 1957 & Co Hospitality is planning to shift buying processes online.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of 1957 & Co Hospitality is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Restaurants industry, but 1957 & Co Hospitality needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help 1957 & Co Hospitality to focus more on services in the Restaurants industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As 1957 & Co Hospitality is one of the leading players in the Restaurants industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Restaurants industry in last five years.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

1957 & Co Hospitality has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Restaurants industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of 1957 & Co Hospitality is just above the Restaurants 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though 1957 & Co Hospitality has some of the most successful models in the Restaurants industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. 1957 & Co Hospitality should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

---

1957 & Co Hospitality Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of 1957 & Co Hospitality are -

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects 1957 & Co Hospitality can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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. 1957 & Co Hospitality can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, 1957 & Co Hospitality can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that 1957 & Co Hospitality operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Restaurants sector.

Loyalty marketing

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Leveraging digital technologies

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– 1957 & Co Hospitality has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Restaurants sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled 1957 & Co Hospitality to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 Restaurants industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. 1957 & Co Hospitality 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. 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Manufacturing automation

– 1957 & Co Hospitality can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Restaurants 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Restaurants industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. 1957 & Co Hospitality can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, 1957 & Co Hospitality is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. 1957 & Co Hospitality can utilize new technology in the field of Restaurants industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

---

Threats 1957 & Co Hospitality External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of 1957 & Co Hospitality are -

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Restaurants industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. 1957 & Co Hospitality can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. 1957 & Co Hospitality 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– 1957 & Co Hospitality has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Restaurants industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, 1957 & Co Hospitality needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Restaurants 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.

Increasing wage structure of 1957 & Co Hospitality

– 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 1957 & Co Hospitality.

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 1957 & Co Hospitality.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, 1957 & Co Hospitality may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Restaurants sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 Restaurants industry.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 Restaurants industry and other sectors.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that 1957 & Co Hospitality is facing in Restaurants sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. 1957 & Co Hospitality needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Restaurants industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality prominent markets.

Environmental challenges

– 1957 & Co Hospitality 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. 1957 & Co Hospitality can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Restaurants industry.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of 1957 & Co Hospitality Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality 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 1957 & Co Hospitality needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---