Chew’s Group (CHGL) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Chew’s Group (Singapore)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Chew’s Group is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Chew’s Group

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Chew’s Group can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chew’s Group, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Chew’s Group
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chew’s Group
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Fish/Livestock sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Chew’s Group

---

Strengths of Chew’s Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Chew’s Group are -

Innovation driven organization

– Chew’s Group is one of the most innovative firm in Fish/Livestock sector.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Chew’s Group has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chew’s Group 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Fish/Livestock industry

– Chew’s Group has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chew’s Group to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Fish/Livestock industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chew’s Group to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Fish/Livestock industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Chew’s Group digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Chew’s Group 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.

Learning organization

- Chew’s Group is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Chew’s Group is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Chew’s Group emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Diverse revenue streams

– Chew’s Group is present in almost all the verticals within the Fish/Livestock industry. This has provided Chew’s Group 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Chew’s Group in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Chew’s Group has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Chew’s Group to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Chew’s Group 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.

High brand equity

– Chew’s Group has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chew’s Group to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Chew’s Group has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Chew’s Group staying ahead in the Fish/Livestock industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Chew’s Group 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.

Training and development

– Chew’s Group has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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 Chew’s Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Chew’s Group are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Chew’s Group has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Fish/Livestock industry over the last five years. Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Chew’s Group is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Chew’s Group vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Chew’s Group, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Fish/Livestock 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Chew’s Group strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Chew’s Group 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Chew’s Group is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Fish/Livestock industry, but Chew’s Group needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chew’s Group to focus more on services in the Fish/Livestock industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Chew’s Group, in the dynamic environment of Fish/Livestock industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chew’s Group has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Fish/Livestock industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Singapore, Chew’s Group 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 Fish/Livestock industry.

Skills based hiring in Fish/Livestock industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Chew’s Group has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Chew’s Group 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 Fish/Livestock industry using digital technology.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Chew’s Group is one of the leading players in the Fish/Livestock industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Fish/Livestock industry in last five years.

Lack of clear differentiation of Chew’s Group products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Chew’s Group needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

---

Chew’s Group Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Chew’s Group are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Fish/Livestock industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Chew’s Group can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– Chew’s Group can develop new processes and procedures in Fish/Livestock 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Chew’s Group 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.

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 Chew’s Group 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Chew’s Group in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Fish/Livestock industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Chew’s Group can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chew’s Group operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Fish/Livestock sector.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Chew’s Group has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fish/Livestock industry. This can help Chew’s Group to build a more holistic ecosystem for Chew’s Group products in the Fish/Livestock industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Manufacturing automation

– Chew’s Group can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Fish/Livestock 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chew’s Group is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Chew’s Group can utilize new technology in the field of Fish/Livestock industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chew’s Group to increase its market reach. Chew’s Group 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Fish/Livestock industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Chew’s Group 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. Chew’s Group 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Chew’s Group has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Fish/Livestock sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Chew’s Group to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chew’s Group to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

---

Threats Chew’s Group External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Chew’s Group are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Chew’s Group may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Fish/Livestock sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group prominent markets.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Chew’s Group 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Chew’s Group 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 Fish/Livestock industry regulations.

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. Chew’s Group 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Fish/Livestock industry are lowering. It can presents Chew’s Group with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Fish/Livestock sector.

Increasing wage structure of Chew’s Group

– 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 Chew’s Group.

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. Chew’s Group needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Fish/Livestock industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Chew’s Group 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 Fish/Livestock industry and other sectors.

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 Chew’s Group.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Chew’s Group 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 Fish/Livestock industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chew’s Group in Fish/Livestock industry. The Fish/Livestock 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.

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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chew’s Group Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group 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 Chew’s Group needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---