Wan Cheng Metal Packaging (8291) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Containers & Packaging
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Wan Cheng Metal Packaging (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wan Cheng Metal Packaging, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Containers & Packaging sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
Strengths of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging 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.
Learning organization
- Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Wan Cheng Metal Packaging emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is one of the most innovative firm in Containers & Packaging sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Containers & Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is present in almost all the verticals within the Containers & Packaging industry. This has provided Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Training and development
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Wan Cheng Metal Packaging staying ahead in the Containers & Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Containers & Packaging industry
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Containers & Packaging industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Wan Cheng Metal Packaging does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging 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.
Weaknesses of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Containers & Packaging industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
High dependence on Wan Cheng Metal Packaging ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Containers & Packaging industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has high operating costs in the Containers & Packaging industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Wan Cheng Metal Packaging lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Containers & Packaging industry, but Wan Cheng Metal Packaging needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to focus more on services in the Containers & Packaging industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring in Containers & Packaging industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Containers & Packaging industry over the last five years. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Containers & Packaging industry, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to provide better information regarding Containers & Packaging products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Wan Cheng Metal Packaging needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Containers & Packaging industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is planning to shift buying processes online.
Wan Cheng Metal Packaging Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wan Cheng Metal Packaging in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Containers & Packaging industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wan Cheng Metal Packaging operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Containers & Packaging sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to increase its market reach. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can utilize new technology in the field of Containers & Packaging industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging industry.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Containers & Packaging industry. This can help Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to build a more holistic ecosystem for Wan Cheng Metal Packaging products in the Containers & Packaging 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, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Containers & Packaging sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wan Cheng Metal Packaging to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Wan Cheng Metal Packaging External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging are -
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.
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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging in the Containers & Packaging sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wan Cheng Metal Packaging in Containers & Packaging industry. The Containers & Packaging 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.
Increasing wage structure of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging
– 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging.
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. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Containers & Packaging industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Wan Cheng Metal Packaging may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Containers & Packaging sector.
Environmental challenges
– Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Containers & Packaging industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging industry and other sectors.
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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Containers & Packaging industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wan Cheng Metal Packaging can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wan Cheng Metal Packaging Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging 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 Wan Cheng Metal Packaging needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
