XiDeLang (XIDE) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Footwear
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for XiDeLang (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , XiDeLang is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that XiDeLang can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the XiDeLang, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of XiDeLang
2. Improving business portfolio management of XiDeLang
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Footwear sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of XiDeLang
Strengths of XiDeLang | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of XiDeLang are -
Diverse revenue streams
– XiDeLang is present in almost all the verticals within the Footwear industry. This has provided XiDeLang 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.
Digital Transformation in Footwear industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For XiDeLang digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. XiDeLang has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– XiDeLang 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 Footwear industry. The technology infrastructure of Malaysia 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– XiDeLang has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. XiDeLang 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
– XiDeLang has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled XiDeLang to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that XiDeLang 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the XiDeLang 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of XiDeLang in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. XiDeLang has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps XiDeLang to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Footwear industry
– XiDeLang has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled XiDeLang to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Footwear industry. The sustainable margins have also helped XiDeLang to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– XiDeLang is one of the leading players in the Footwear 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of XiDeLang in Footwear industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of XiDeLang comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Footwear 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.
Weaknesses of XiDeLang | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of XiDeLang are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of XiDeLang, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Footwear 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, XiDeLang has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Footwear industry over the last five years. XiDeLang 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of XiDeLang is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Footwear industry, but XiDeLang needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help XiDeLang to focus more on services in the Footwear industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at XiDeLang, in the dynamic environment of Footwear industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. XiDeLang has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, XiDeLang is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help XiDeLang to provide better information regarding Footwear products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of XiDeLang products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, XiDeLang needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, XiDeLang 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, XiDeLang has high operating costs in the Footwear industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract XiDeLang lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, XiDeLang needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on XiDeLang ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of XiDeLang still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Footwear industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though XiDeLang has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As XiDeLang is one of the leading players in the Footwear industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Footwear industry in last five years.
XiDeLang Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of XiDeLang are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, XiDeLang 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, XiDeLang can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that XiDeLang operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Footwear sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– XiDeLang 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– XiDeLang can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Footwear 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.
Buying journey improvements
– XiDeLang can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Footwear 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Footwear industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. XiDeLang can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. XiDeLang can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for XiDeLang in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Footwear industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– XiDeLang 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at XiDeLang 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 Footwear industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for XiDeLang 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, XiDeLang is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. XiDeLang can utilize new technology in the field of Footwear industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats XiDeLang External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of XiDeLang are -
Environmental challenges
– XiDeLang 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. XiDeLang can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Footwear industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– XiDeLang 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– XiDeLang 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 Footwear 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 XiDeLang in the Footwear 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 XiDeLang business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for XiDeLang in Footwear industry. The Footwear 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Footwear industry are lowering. It can presents XiDeLang with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Footwear sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Footwear industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. XiDeLang can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– XiDeLang has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Footwear industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, XiDeLang needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Footwear sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. XiDeLang will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, XiDeLang may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Footwear sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of XiDeLang Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang 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 XiDeLang needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.