SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jiangsu Zhangjiagang, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang
Strengths of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Jiangsu Zhangjiagang staying ahead in the Regional Banks industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Jiangsu Zhangjiagang does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management in the Regional Banks industry
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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
- Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks 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.
Training and development
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Ability to lead change in Regional Banks
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Regional Banks industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Jiangsu Zhangjiagang in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Regional Banks 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang in Regional Banks industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Regional Banks industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jiangsu Zhangjiagang digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Regional Banks 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.
Weaknesses of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring in Regional Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Regional Banks industry over the last five years. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has some of the most successful models in the Regional Banks industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Regional Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to provide better information regarding Regional Banks products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Regional Banks 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Regional Banks industry.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Regional Banks industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jiangsu Zhangjiagang operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Regional Banks sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Regional Banks industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to increase its market reach. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can utilize new technology in the field of Regional Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help Jiangsu Zhangjiagang to build a more holistic ecosystem for Jiangsu Zhangjiagang products in the Regional Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Jiangsu Zhangjiagang External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang prominent markets.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jiangsu Zhangjiagang is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Regional Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Regional Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Regional Banks 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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.
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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang.
Environmental challenges
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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. Jiangsu Zhangjiagang can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Regional Banks industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Regional Banks industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Regional Banks industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang 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 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.