SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Creative Technology Ltd (Singapore)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Creative Technology Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Creative Technology Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Creative Technology Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Creative Technology Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Creative Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Creative Technology Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Creative Technology Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Computer Peripherals sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Creative Technology Ltd
Strengths of Creative Technology Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Creative Technology Ltd are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Peripherals industry
– Creative Technology Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Creative Technology Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Creative Technology Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Creative Technology Ltd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Creative Technology Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Peripherals industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Creative Technology Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Creative Technology Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Creative Technology Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Creative Technology Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Creative Technology Ltd staying ahead in the Computer Peripherals industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Creative Technology Ltd in Computer Peripherals industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Creative Technology Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Peripherals sector.
Digital Transformation in Computer Peripherals industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Creative Technology Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Creative Technology Ltd 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Creative Technology Ltd in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Creative Technology Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Creative Technology Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Creative Technology Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Creative Technology Ltd are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Creative Technology Ltd is just above the Computer Peripherals 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Peripherals industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Singapore, Creative Technology Ltd 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Creative Technology Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Creative Technology Ltd to provide better information regarding Computer Peripherals products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Singapore, Creative Technology Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Creative Technology Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Creative Technology Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Creative Technology Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Computer Peripherals industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Creative Technology Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Peripherals industry, Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Creative Technology Ltd 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 Peripherals industry using digital technology.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Creative Technology Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Computer Peripherals industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Creative Technology Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Creative Technology Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Peripherals industry, but Creative Technology Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Creative Technology Ltd to focus more on services in the Computer Peripherals industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Creative Technology Ltd has high operating costs in the Computer Peripherals industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Creative Technology Ltd lucrative customers.
Creative Technology Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Creative Technology Ltd are -
Manufacturing automation
– Creative Technology Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Peripherals 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Creative Technology Ltd 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Creative Technology Ltd to increase its market reach. Creative Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Peripherals industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Creative Technology Ltd 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. Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Creative Technology Ltd 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 Peripherals 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 Creative Technology Ltd 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.
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 Technology Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Creative Technology Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Peripherals sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Creative Technology Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Creative Technology Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Creative Technology Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Peripherals industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Creative Technology Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Peripherals 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.
Threats Creative Technology Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Creative Technology Ltd are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Increasing wage structure of Creative Technology Ltd
– 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 Technology Ltd.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Peripherals industry are lowering. It can presents Creative Technology Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Peripherals sector.
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 Technology Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Peripherals industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Technology Ltd.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Creative Technology Ltd 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 Computer Peripherals industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Creative Technology Ltd 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 Peripherals sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Creative Technology Ltd is facing in Computer Peripherals sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Creative Technology Ltd in Computer Peripherals industry. The Computer Peripherals 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.
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. Creative Technology Ltd 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Creative Technology Ltd 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 Peripherals industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Creative Technology Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Peripherals industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Creative Technology Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Creative Technology Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Creative Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd 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 Technology Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.