SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Jl Mag Rare-Earth (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Jl Mag Rare-Earth is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Jl Mag Rare-Earth can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jl Mag Rare-Earth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Electronic Instr. & Controls sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
Strengths of Jl Mag Rare-Earth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jl Mag Rare-Earth are -
High brand equity
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jl Mag Rare-Earth to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Jl Mag Rare-Earth staying ahead in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Jl Mag Rare-Earth emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Jl Mag Rare-Earth comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Analytics focus
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Digital Transformation in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jl Mag Rare-Earth digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Jl Mag Rare-Earth does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jl Mag Rare-Earth in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Jl Mag Rare-Earth has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jl Mag Rare-Earth to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jl Mag Rare-Earth in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Weaknesses of Jl Mag Rare-Earth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jl Mag Rare-Earth are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jl Mag Rare-Earth has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry over the last five years. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, but Jl Mag Rare-Earth needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jl Mag Rare-Earth to focus more on services in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Jl Mag Rare-Earth is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in last five years.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Jl Mag Rare-Earth needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Jl Mag Rare-Earth can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jl Mag Rare-Earth is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Jl Mag Rare-Earth is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jl Mag Rare-Earth vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Jl Mag Rare-Earth, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Jl Mag Rare-Earth, in the dynamic environment of Electronic Instr. & Controls industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jl Mag Rare-Earth has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jl Mag Rare-Earth has some of the most successful models in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Jl Mag Rare-Earth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Jl Mag Rare-Earth Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Jl Mag Rare-Earth are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Jl Mag Rare-Earth in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. Now Jl Mag Rare-Earth can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jl Mag Rare-Earth in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jl Mag Rare-Earth to increase its market reach. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Jl Mag Rare-Earth to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jl Mag Rare-Earth to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth can develop new processes and procedures in Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Jl Mag Rare-Earth can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jl Mag Rare-Earth is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jl Mag Rare-Earth can utilize new technology in the field of Electronic Instr. & Controls industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
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. Jl Mag Rare-Earth can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Jl Mag Rare-Earth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Jl Mag Rare-Earth are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Jl Mag Rare-Earth.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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.
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. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Increasing wage structure of Jl Mag Rare-Earth
– 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jl Mag Rare-Earth in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. The Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry and other sectors.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electronic Instr. & Controls industry are lowering. It can presents Jl Mag Rare-Earth with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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, Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jl Mag Rare-Earth Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth 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 Jl Mag Rare-Earth needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.