Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd (KJCS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Containers & Packaging
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Containers & Packaging sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd
Strengths of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging industry in Malaysia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Malaysia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management in the Containers & Packaging industry
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is one of the most innovative firm in Containers & Packaging sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Organizational Resilience of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 brand equity
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Containers & Packaging
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Containers & Packaging industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Containers & Packaging industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd in Containers & Packaging industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Weaknesses of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ less understanding of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Containers & Packaging industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Containers & Packaging industry in last five years.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has some of the most successful models in the Containers & Packaging industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Containers & Packaging industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd, in the dynamic environment of Containers & Packaging industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Containers & Packaging industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Containers & Packaging industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Containers & Packaging sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Containers & Packaging industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd in the Containers & Packaging industry. Now Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Containers & Packaging industry. This can help Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd products in the Containers & Packaging industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can develop new processes and procedures in Containers & Packaging 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to increase its market reach. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Containers & Packaging industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Threats Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Containers & Packaging industry.
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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd in the Containers & Packaging sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd.
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. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Containers & Packaging industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Containers & Packaging industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd is facing in Containers & Packaging sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd prominent markets.
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. Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd 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 Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.