CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Real Estate Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for CapitaLand Retail China Trust (Singapore)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that CapitaLand Retail China Trust can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the CapitaLand Retail China Trust, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
2. Improving business portfolio management of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Real Estate Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
Strengths of CapitaLand Retail China Trust | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of CapitaLand Retail China Trust are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of CapitaLand Retail China Trust in Real Estate Operations industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Real Estate Operations industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For CapitaLand Retail China Trust digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Organizational Resilience of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing CapitaLand Retail China Trust does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust is present in almost all the verticals within the Real Estate Operations industry. This has provided CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Ability to lead change in Real Estate Operations
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry in Singapore. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Real Estate Operations industry in Singapore but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled CapitaLand Retail China Trust in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Real Estate Operations industry
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Real Estate Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of CapitaLand Retail China Trust have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Real Estate Operations industry
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled CapitaLand Retail China Trust to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped CapitaLand Retail China Trust to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Analytics focus
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 Real Estate Operations industry. The technology infrastructure of Singapore 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – CapitaLand Retail China Trust staying ahead in the Real Estate Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of CapitaLand Retail China Trust | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CapitaLand Retail China Trust are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of CapitaLand Retail China Trust is just above the Real Estate Operations 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of CapitaLand Retail China Trust is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but CapitaLand Retail China Trust needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help CapitaLand Retail China Trust to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on CapitaLand Retail China Trust ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of CapitaLand Retail China Trust still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Real Estate Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though CapitaLand Retail China Trust has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of CapitaLand Retail China Trust strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, CapitaLand Retail China Trust has high operating costs in the Real Estate Operations industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract CapitaLand Retail China Trust lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CapitaLand Retail China Trust is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Real Estate Operations industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, CapitaLand Retail China Trust has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Real Estate Operations industry over the last five years. CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, CapitaLand Retail China Trust is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left CapitaLand Retail China Trust vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, CapitaLand Retail China Trust is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help CapitaLand Retail China Trust to provide better information regarding Real Estate Operations products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of CapitaLand Retail China Trust products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, CapitaLand Retail China Trust needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
CapitaLand Retail China Trust Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of CapitaLand Retail China Trust are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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, CapitaLand Retail China Trust can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that CapitaLand Retail China Trust operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Real Estate Operations sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust can develop new processes and procedures in Real Estate Operations 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust to increase its market reach. CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Loyalty marketing
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Real Estate Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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. CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Real Estate Operations industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for CapitaLand Retail China Trust in the Real Estate Operations industry. Now CapitaLand Retail China Trust can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for CapitaLand Retail China Trust in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Real Estate Operations industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of CapitaLand Retail China Trust are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Real Estate Operations industry are lowering. It can presents CapitaLand Retail China Trust with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Real Estate Operations 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Real Estate Operations industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. CapitaLand Retail China Trust can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that CapitaLand Retail China Trust is facing in Real Estate Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 Real Estate Operations industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of CapitaLand Retail China Trust
– 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Real Estate Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, CapitaLand Retail China Trust needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 Real Estate Operations industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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. CapitaLand Retail China Trust can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust.
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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CapitaLand Retail China Trust Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust 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 CapitaLand Retail China Trust needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.