SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cuckoo Electr (South Korea)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cuckoo Electr is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cuckoo Electr can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cuckoo Electr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cuckoo Electr
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cuckoo Electr
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Korea
4. Making a Appliance & Tool sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cuckoo Electr
Strengths of Cuckoo Electr | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cuckoo Electr are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cuckoo Electr in Appliance & Tool industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Appliance & Tool industry
– Cuckoo Electr has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cuckoo Electr to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Appliance & Tool industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cuckoo Electr to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cuckoo Electr is one of the leading players in the Appliance & Tool industry in South Korea. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in South Korea. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cuckoo Electr has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Appliance & Tool industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Cuckoo Electr have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cuckoo Electr emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cuckoo Electr has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cuckoo Electr 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cuckoo Electr
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Cuckoo Electr does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Cuckoo Electr is one of the most innovative firm in Appliance & Tool sector.
Training and development
– Cuckoo Electr has one of the best training and development program in Consumer 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cuckoo Electr is present in almost all the verticals within the Appliance & Tool industry. This has provided Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Cuckoo Electr has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cuckoo Electr to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cuckoo Electr has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Cuckoo Electr staying ahead in the Appliance & Tool industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Cuckoo Electr | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cuckoo Electr are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Cuckoo Electr has high operating costs in the Appliance & Tool industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cuckoo Electr lucrative customers.
Employees’ less understanding of Cuckoo Electr strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Appliance & Tool industry, but Cuckoo Electr needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cuckoo Electr to focus more on services in the Appliance & Tool industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cuckoo Electr has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Appliance & Tool industry over the last five years. Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Cuckoo Electr is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cuckoo Electr vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of South Korea, Cuckoo Electr needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on Cuckoo Electr ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Cuckoo Electr still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Appliance & Tool industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cuckoo Electr has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cuckoo Electr is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Cuckoo Electr to provide better information regarding Appliance & Tool products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cuckoo Electr has some of the most successful models in the Appliance & Tool industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cuckoo Electr should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Cuckoo Electr is just above the Appliance & Tool 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Cuckoo Electr, in the dynamic environment of Appliance & Tool industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cuckoo Electr has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Cuckoo Electr Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Cuckoo Electr are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cuckoo Electr 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cuckoo Electr has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Appliance & Tool sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Cuckoo Electr to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cuckoo Electr to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cuckoo Electr in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Appliance & Tool industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Cuckoo Electr 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cuckoo Electr can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Appliance & Tool 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cuckoo Electr can develop new processes and procedures in Appliance & Tool 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cuckoo Electr is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cuckoo Electr can utilize new technology in the field of Appliance & Tool industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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, Cuckoo Electr can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cuckoo Electr operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Appliance & Tool sector.
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 Cuckoo Electr 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cuckoo Electr has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Appliance & Tool industry. This can help Cuckoo Electr to build a more holistic ecosystem for Cuckoo Electr products in the Appliance & Tool industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Appliance & Tool industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cuckoo Electr in the Appliance & Tool industry. Now Cuckoo Electr can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cuckoo Electr 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 Appliance & Tool industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cuckoo Electr 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.
Threats Cuckoo Electr External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Cuckoo Electr are -
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 Cuckoo Electr in the Appliance & Tool sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Cuckoo Electr 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.
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.
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. Cuckoo Electr needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Appliance & Tool industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cuckoo Electr in Appliance & Tool industry. The Appliance & Tool 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.
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 Cuckoo Electr business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cuckoo Electr 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 Appliance & Tool industry and other sectors.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cuckoo Electr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Appliance & Tool industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cuckoo Electr needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Appliance & Tool 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 Appliance & Tool industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cuckoo Electr can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Cuckoo Electr.
Increasing wage structure of Cuckoo Electr
– 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 Cuckoo Electr.
Regulatory challenges
– Cuckoo Electr 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 Appliance & Tool industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cuckoo Electr Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr 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 Cuckoo Electr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.