SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Creative Peripherals (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Creative Peripherals is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Creative Peripherals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Creative Peripherals can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Creative Peripherals, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Creative Peripherals
2. Improving business portfolio management of Creative Peripherals
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Computer Hardware sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Creative Peripherals
Strengths of Creative Peripherals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Creative Peripherals are -
Ability to lead change in Computer Hardware
– Creative Peripherals is one of the leading players in the Computer Hardware industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Hardware industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Creative Peripherals in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Creative Peripherals is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Hardware industry. This has provided Creative Peripherals 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
– Creative Peripherals has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Hardware industry
– Creative Peripherals has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Creative Peripherals to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Hardware industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Creative Peripherals to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Creative Peripherals
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Creative Peripherals does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Creative Peripherals 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 Computer Hardware industry. The technology infrastructure of India 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Creative Peripherals 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Creative Peripherals in Computer Hardware industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Creative Peripherals has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Creative Peripherals 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.
High brand equity
– Creative Peripherals has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Creative Peripherals to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Creative Peripherals is one of the leading players in the Computer Hardware industry in India. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in India. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management in the Computer Hardware industry
– Creative Peripherals is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses of Creative Peripherals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Creative Peripherals are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Creative Peripherals is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Hardware industry, but Creative Peripherals needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Creative Peripherals to focus more on services in the Computer Hardware industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Creative Peripherals is just above the Computer Hardware 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Creative Peripherals, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Computer Hardware 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Creative Peripherals has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Hardware industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Creative Peripherals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Computer Hardware industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Hardware industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Creative Peripherals can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Creative Peripherals is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Creative Peripherals is one of the leading players in the Computer Hardware industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Hardware industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Creative Peripherals has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Computer Hardware industry using digital technology.
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 Creative Peripherals supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Creative Peripherals is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Creative Peripherals vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Hardware industry, Creative Peripherals 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.
Creative Peripherals Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Creative Peripherals are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Creative Peripherals 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 Hardware industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Creative Peripherals can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Hardware 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Creative Peripherals to increase its market reach. Creative Peripherals 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Creative Peripherals can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Creative Peripherals can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Creative Peripherals operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Hardware sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Creative Peripherals has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Hardware sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Creative Peripherals to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Creative Peripherals to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Creative Peripherals can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Creative Peripherals 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Creative Peripherals is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Creative Peripherals can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Hardware industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Hardware industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Creative Peripherals can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Creative Peripherals are -
Environmental challenges
– Creative Peripherals 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. Creative Peripherals can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Hardware industry.
Increasing wage structure of Creative Peripherals
– 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 Creative Peripherals.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Creative Peripherals may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Hardware sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Hardware industry are lowering. It can presents Creative Peripherals with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Hardware sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Hardware industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Creative Peripherals can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Creative Peripherals needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Hardware 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.
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 Creative Peripherals.
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 Creative Peripherals in the Computer Hardware 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 Creative Peripherals in Computer Hardware industry. The Computer Hardware 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.
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 Creative Peripherals business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Creative Peripherals 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 Hardware industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Creative Peripherals is facing in Computer Hardware sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Creative Peripherals Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals 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 Creative Peripherals needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.