Kin and Carta (KCT) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Printing Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kin and Carta (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kin and Carta is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kin and Carta can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kin and Carta, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kin and Carta
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kin and Carta
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Printing Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kin and Carta
Strengths of Kin and Carta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kin and Carta are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing Services industry
– Kin and Carta has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kin and Carta to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Printing Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kin and Carta to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Kin and Carta has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kin and Carta to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Kin and Carta
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kin and Carta does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kin and Carta 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.
Training and development
– Kin and Carta 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Kin and Carta is one of the most innovative firm in Printing Services sector.
Learning organization
- Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Kin and Carta emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kin and Carta in Printing Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Printing Services
– Kin and Carta is one of the leading players in the Printing Services industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Printing Services industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kin and Carta in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kin and Carta in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Kin and Carta has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kin and Carta to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management in the Printing Services industry
– Kin and Carta is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kin and Carta has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Printing Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kin and Carta have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Kin and Carta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kin and Carta are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Printing Services industry, Kin and Carta 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kin and Carta is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Printing Services industry, but Kin and Carta needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kin and Carta to focus more on services in the Printing Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kin and Carta 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kin and Carta has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Printing Services industry over the last five years. Kin and Carta 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.
Skills based hiring in Printing Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kin and Carta 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Kin and Carta, in the dynamic environment of Printing Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kin and Carta has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Kin and Carta needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Printing Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kin and Carta can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kin and Carta is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kin and Carta is one of the leading players in the Printing Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Printing Services industry in last five years.
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 Kin and Carta supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Kin and Carta is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kin and Carta vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kin and Carta products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kin and Carta needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kin and Carta has some of the most successful models in the Printing Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Kin and Carta should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Kin and Carta Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Kin and Carta are -
Buying journey improvements
– Kin and Carta can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Printing Services industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kin and Carta can develop new processes and procedures in Printing 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kin and Carta in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Kin and Carta can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Printing Services sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Printing Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kin and Carta 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. Kin and Carta 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kin and Carta 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Printing Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kin and Carta can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Kin and Carta 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kin and Carta to increase its market reach. Kin and Carta 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Printing Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Kin and Carta in the Printing Services industry. Now Kin and Carta can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kin and Carta has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Printing Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Kin and Carta to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kin and Carta to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Kin and Carta are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kin and Carta is facing in Printing Services 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. Kin and Carta needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Kin and Carta may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Printing Services sector.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kin and Carta high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Kin and Carta in the Printing Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Kin and Carta 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 Printing Services industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Kin and Carta
– 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 Kin and Carta.
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 Kin and Carta business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Kin and Carta 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. Kin and Carta can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Printing Services industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kin and Carta 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 Printing Services industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kin and Carta Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta 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 Kin and Carta needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.