SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Zicom Holdings Pvt (Singapore)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Zicom Holdings Pvt is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zicom Holdings Pvt
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Zicom Holdings Pvt can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zicom Holdings Pvt, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Zicom Holdings Pvt
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zicom Holdings Pvt
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zicom Holdings Pvt
Strengths of Zicom Holdings Pvt | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zicom Holdings Pvt are -
Ability to lead change in Business Services
– Zicom Holdings Pvt is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry in Singapore. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Business Services industry in Singapore but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Zicom Holdings Pvt in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zicom Holdings Pvt has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Zicom Holdings Pvt staying ahead in the Business Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Business Services industry
– Zicom Holdings Pvt has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zicom Holdings Pvt to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zicom Holdings Pvt to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Zicom Holdings Pvt is present in almost all the verticals within the Business Services industry. This has provided Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Analytics focus
– Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Business Services 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Zicom Holdings Pvt has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Business Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Zicom Holdings Pvt have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Zicom Holdings Pvt is one of the most innovative firm in Business Services sector.
Digital Transformation in Business Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Zicom Holdings Pvt digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zicom Holdings Pvt is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry in Singapore. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Singapore. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Zicom Holdings Pvt comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Business Services 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zicom Holdings Pvt in Business Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Weaknesses of Zicom Holdings Pvt | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Zicom Holdings Pvt are -
High dependence on Zicom Holdings Pvt ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Zicom Holdings Pvt still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Business Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Zicom Holdings Pvt has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Zicom Holdings Pvt, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Business Services 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Business Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Singapore, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Business Services industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Business Services industry, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Business Services industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Zicom Holdings Pvt is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Business Services industry in last five years.
Need for greater diversity
– Zicom Holdings Pvt has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Zicom Holdings Pvt is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Zicom Holdings Pvt to provide better information regarding Business Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Zicom Holdings Pvt has some of the most successful models in the Business Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Zicom Holdings Pvt should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Zicom Holdings Pvt has high operating costs in the Business Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Zicom Holdings Pvt lucrative customers.
Zicom Holdings Pvt Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Zicom Holdings Pvt are -
Manufacturing automation
– Zicom Holdings Pvt can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Business Services sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Business Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zicom Holdings Pvt 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
– Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Business Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Zicom Holdings Pvt in the Business Services industry. Now Zicom Holdings Pvt can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Zicom Holdings Pvt can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Zicom Holdings Pvt operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Business Services sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Zicom Holdings Pvt has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Business Services industry. This can help Zicom Holdings Pvt to build a more holistic ecosystem for Zicom Holdings Pvt products in the Business Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Zicom Holdings Pvt can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Zicom Holdings Pvt is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Zicom Holdings Pvt can utilize new technology in the field of Business Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zicom Holdings Pvt in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Business Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Zicom Holdings Pvt can develop new processes and procedures in Business Services industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Zicom Holdings Pvt External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Zicom Holdings Pvt are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Zicom Holdings Pvt has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Business Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zicom Holdings Pvt needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Business Services 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Business Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zicom Holdings Pvt can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt prominent markets.
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. Zicom Holdings Pvt needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Business Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Business Services industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Zicom Holdings Pvt
– 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt.
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 Zicom Holdings Pvt.
Environmental challenges
– Zicom Holdings Pvt 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. Zicom Holdings Pvt can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Business Services industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zicom Holdings Pvt in Business Services industry. The Business Services 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.
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 Zicom Holdings Pvt in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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 Zicom Holdings Pvt business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zicom Holdings Pvt Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt 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 Zicom Holdings Pvt needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.