Ningbo Zhoushan Port (601018) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Ningbo Zhoushan Port (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Ningbo Zhoushan Port is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ningbo Zhoushan Port

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

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Strengths of Ningbo Zhoushan Port | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Ningbo Zhoushan Port are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Transportation sector.

Highly skilled collaborators

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Ningbo Zhoushan Port comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Transportation 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Learning organization

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

Training and development

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.

Organizational Resilience of Ningbo Zhoushan Port

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

Analytics focus

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry. The technology infrastructure of China 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in China. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in China. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Digital Transformation in Misc. Transportation industry

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

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Weaknesses of Ningbo Zhoushan Port | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Ningbo Zhoushan Port are -

Products dominated business model

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

Skills based hiring in Misc. Transportation industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

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

Lack of clear differentiation of Ningbo Zhoushan Port products

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

Need for greater diversity

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has high operating costs in the Misc. Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Ningbo Zhoushan Port lucrative customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry using digital technology.

High dependence on Ningbo Zhoushan Port ‘s star products

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

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Transportation industry over the last five years. Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Employees’ less understanding of Ningbo Zhoushan Port strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

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Ningbo Zhoushan Port Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Ningbo Zhoushan Port are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ningbo Zhoushan Port is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ningbo Zhoushan Port can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Transportation 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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Transportation industry

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Creating value in data economy

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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. Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ningbo Zhoushan Port to increase its market reach. Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ningbo Zhoushan Port can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

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. Ningbo Zhoushan Port can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry.

Buying journey improvements

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Transportation 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.

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Threats Ningbo Zhoushan Port External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Ningbo Zhoushan Port are -

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port prominent markets.

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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port in the Misc. Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Ningbo Zhoushan Port

– 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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port.

Environmental challenges

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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. Ningbo Zhoushan Port can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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.

Learning curve for new practices

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

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Ningbo Zhoushan Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry and other sectors.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents Ningbo Zhoushan Port with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Transportation sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Ningbo Zhoushan Port is facing in Misc. Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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 Ningbo Zhoushan Port.

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. Ningbo Zhoushan Port needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Template, Example

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

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