SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Taiyuan Coal Gasification (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Taiyuan Coal Gasification is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taiyuan Coal Gasification
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Taiyuan Coal Gasification can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Taiyuan Coal Gasification, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Taiyuan Coal Gasification
2. Improving business portfolio management of Taiyuan Coal Gasification
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Coal sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Taiyuan Coal Gasification
Strengths of Taiyuan Coal Gasification | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Taiyuan Coal Gasification are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Coal industry
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Taiyuan Coal Gasification to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Coal industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Taiyuan Coal Gasification to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Coal industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Taiyuan Coal Gasification have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management in the Coal industry
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Coal 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Taiyuan Coal Gasification in Coal industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification is one of the leading players in the Coal 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.
High brand equity
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Taiyuan Coal Gasification to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Taiyuan Coal Gasification in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Taiyuan Coal Gasification has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Taiyuan Coal Gasification to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Taiyuan Coal Gasification
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Taiyuan Coal Gasification does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification is one of the most innovative firm in Coal sector.
Weaknesses of Taiyuan Coal Gasification | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Taiyuan Coal Gasification is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Taiyuan Coal Gasification vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Taiyuan Coal Gasification is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Coal industry, but Taiyuan Coal Gasification needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Taiyuan Coal Gasification to focus more on services in the Coal industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring in Coal industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Coal industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Taiyuan Coal Gasification is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Coal industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Taiyuan Coal Gasification has high operating costs in the Coal industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Taiyuan Coal Gasification lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Taiyuan Coal Gasification, in the dynamic environment of Coal industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Taiyuan Coal Gasification has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Coal industry, Taiyuan Coal Gasification needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Taiyuan Coal Gasification is just above the Coal 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Taiyuan Coal Gasification has some of the most successful models in the Coal industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Taiyuan Coal Gasification should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Taiyuan Coal Gasification products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Taiyuan Coal Gasification needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Taiyuan Coal Gasification Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Taiyuan Coal Gasification are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification can develop new processes and procedures in Coal 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Coal sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Taiyuan Coal Gasification to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Taiyuan Coal Gasification to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Coal industry.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Coal industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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. Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Taiyuan Coal Gasification is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taiyuan Coal Gasification can utilize new technology in the field of Coal industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Taiyuan Coal Gasification can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Taiyuan Coal Gasification in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Coal industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Taiyuan Coal Gasification has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Coal industry. This can help Taiyuan Coal Gasification to build a more holistic ecosystem for Taiyuan Coal Gasification products in the Coal industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Taiyuan Coal Gasification to increase its market reach. Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Threats Taiyuan Coal Gasification External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Taiyuan Coal Gasification are -
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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Coal industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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. Taiyuan Coal Gasification can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Coal industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Taiyuan Coal Gasification in Coal industry. The Coal 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.
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. Taiyuan Coal Gasification needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Coal industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Coal industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Taiyuan Coal Gasification can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification prominent markets.
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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Coal industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Taiyuan Coal Gasification is facing in Coal sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Coal industry.
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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taiyuan Coal Gasification Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification 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 Taiyuan Coal Gasification needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.