Cityldg (CLHJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cityldg (South Africa)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cityldg is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cityldg

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cityldg can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cityldg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cityldg 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Cityldg can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cityldg
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cityldg
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Hotels & Motels sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cityldg

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Strengths of Cityldg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cityldg are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Cityldg 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Hotels & Motels industry

– Cityldg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Cityldg 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 Cityldg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cityldg emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of Cityldg

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Cityldg does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Hotels & Motels

– Cityldg is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels industry in South Africa. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Hotels & Motels industry in South Africa but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Cityldg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Cityldg in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Cityldg has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cityldg to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cityldg has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Cityldg staying ahead in the Hotels & Motels industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Cityldg has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Hotels & Motels industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Cityldg have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

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

Digital Transformation in Hotels & Motels industry

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

– Cityldg is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels industry in South Africa. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in South Africa. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Cityldg in Hotels & Motels industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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Weaknesses of Cityldg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Cityldg are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of South Africa, Cityldg needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Cityldg has some of the most successful models in the Hotels & Motels industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cityldg should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Lack of clear differentiation of Cityldg products

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

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Cityldg 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 strategic competitive environment developments

– As Cityldg is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Hotels & Motels industry in last five years.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cityldg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Cityldg to provide better information regarding Hotels & Motels products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High dependence on Cityldg ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Cityldg still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Hotels & Motels industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cityldg has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Cityldg has high operating costs in the Hotels & Motels industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cityldg lucrative customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Hotels & Motels industry, Cityldg 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.

Skills based hiring in Hotels & Motels industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cityldg 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Cityldg, in the dynamic environment of Hotels & Motels industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cityldg has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Cityldg Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Cityldg are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Hotels & Motels industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cityldg in the Hotels & Motels industry. Now Cityldg can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Developing new processes and practices

– Cityldg can develop new processes and procedures in Hotels & Motels 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cityldg has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Hotels & Motels industry. This can help Cityldg to build a more holistic ecosystem for Cityldg products in the Hotels & Motels industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cityldg can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cityldg operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Hotels & Motels sector.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cityldg 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 Cityldg to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cityldg 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cityldg 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cityldg can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cityldg to increase its market reach. Cityldg 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.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Cityldg can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Cityldg 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cityldg is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cityldg can utilize new technology in the field of Hotels & Motels industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

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Threats Cityldg External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Cityldg are -

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cityldg in Hotels & Motels industry. The Hotels & Motels 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Cityldg is facing in Hotels & Motels sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Cityldg may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Hotels & Motels sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Cityldg 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 Hotels & Motels industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Cityldg has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Hotels & Motels industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cityldg needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Hotels & Motels 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.

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 Cityldg business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Cityldg

– 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 Cityldg.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Cityldg 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 Hotels & Motels industry and other sectors.

Regulatory challenges

– Cityldg 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 Hotels & Motels industry regulations.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Hotels & Motels industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cityldg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cityldg 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.

Environmental challenges

– Cityldg 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. Cityldg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Hotels & Motels industry.

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. Cityldg needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Hotels & Motels industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cityldg Template, Example

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

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