Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering
2. Improving business portfolio management of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Water Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering
Strengths of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering staying ahead in the Water Transportation industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Training and development
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
High brand equity
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering in Water Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is one of the leading players in the Water 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.
Innovation driven organization
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Water Transportation industry
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Water Transportation industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Weaknesses of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Water Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Water Transportation industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Water Transportation 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has high operating costs in the Water Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Water Transportation industry over the last five years. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Water Transportation industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering, in the dynamic environment of Water Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Water Transportation industry, but CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering to focus more on services in the Water Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Water Transportation industry. This can help CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering to build a more holistic ecosystem for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering products in the Water Transportation industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can utilize new technology in the field of Water Transportation industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Manufacturing automation
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Water Transportation 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Water Transportation 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, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Water Transportation sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Water Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Water Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering in the Water Transportation industry. Now CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 Water Transportation industry.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 Water Transportation industry.
Regulatory challenges
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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.
Increasing wage structure of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering
– 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering.
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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering.
Consumer confidence and its impact on CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 Water Transportation industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Water Transportation sector.
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. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Water Transportation industry.
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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Water Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering in the Water Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering 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 CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
