SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pingtan Marine (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pingtan Marine is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pingtan Marine can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pingtan Marine, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pingtan Marine
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pingtan Marine
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Fish/Livestock sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pingtan Marine
Strengths of Pingtan Marine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pingtan Marine are -
Organizational Resilience of Pingtan Marine
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Pingtan Marine does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Pingtan Marine is one of the most innovative firm in Fish/Livestock sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pingtan Marine has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Fish/Livestock industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Pingtan Marine have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Fish/Livestock industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pingtan Marine digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pingtan Marine 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.
Training and development
– Pingtan Marine 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pingtan Marine 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Pingtan Marine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pingtan Marine to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Fish/Livestock
– Pingtan Marine is one of the leading players in the Fish/Livestock industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Fish/Livestock industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Pingtan Marine 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)
– Pingtan Marine has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Pingtan Marine 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Fish/Livestock industry
– Pingtan Marine 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
- Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Pingtan Marine emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Pingtan Marine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pingtan Marine are -
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 Pingtan Marine supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Pingtan Marine is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pingtan Marine vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pingtan Marine 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pingtan Marine 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Pingtan Marine 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.
High dependence on Pingtan Marine ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pingtan Marine still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Fish/Livestock industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Pingtan Marine has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Fish/Livestock industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pingtan Marine 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Pingtan Marine is just above the Fish/Livestock 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pingtan Marine is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Fish/Livestock industry, but Pingtan Marine needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pingtan Marine to focus more on services in the Fish/Livestock industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Pingtan Marine needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Fish/Livestock industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Pingtan Marine can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pingtan Marine is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pingtan Marine is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Pingtan Marine to provide better information regarding Fish/Livestock products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pingtan Marine has some of the most successful models in the Fish/Livestock industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Pingtan Marine should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Pingtan Marine Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Pingtan Marine are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pingtan Marine 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pingtan Marine 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pingtan Marine 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Fish/Livestock industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Pingtan Marine in the Fish/Livestock industry. Now Pingtan Marine can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pingtan Marine is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pingtan Marine 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Pingtan Marine 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pingtan Marine can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pingtan Marine operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Fish/Livestock sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pingtan Marine to increase its market reach. Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pingtan Marine has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fish/Livestock industry. This can help Pingtan Marine to build a more holistic ecosystem for Pingtan Marine products in the Fish/Livestock industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Pingtan Marine can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pingtan Marine can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Pingtan Marine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pingtan Marine are -
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 Pingtan Marine.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Pingtan Marine 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. Pingtan Marine can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Fish/Livestock industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Pingtan Marine 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pingtan Marine 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.
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 Pingtan Marine in the Fish/Livestock sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pingtan Marine has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Fish/Livestock industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pingtan Marine needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Fish/Livestock 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.
Increasing wage structure of Pingtan Marine
– 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 Pingtan Marine.
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 Pingtan Marine business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pingtan Marine is facing in Fish/Livestock sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Pingtan Marine 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.
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 Pingtan Marine Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine 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 Pingtan Marine needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.