SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Zhejiang Honglei Copper (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Zhejiang Honglei Copper is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zhejiang Honglei Copper
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Zhejiang Honglei Copper can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zhejiang Honglei Copper, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Zhejiang Honglei Copper
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zhejiang Honglei Copper
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Consumer Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zhejiang Honglei Copper
Strengths of Zhejiang Honglei Copper | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zhejiang Honglei Copper are -
Learning organization
- Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Zhejiang Honglei Copper emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Consumer Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Zhejiang Honglei Copper digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper is one of the leading players in the Consumer Financial Services 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.
Ability to lead change in Consumer Financial Services
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper is one of the leading players in the Consumer Financial Services industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Consumer Financial Services industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Zhejiang Honglei Copper in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper in Consumer Financial Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Consumer Financial Services industry
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Zhejiang Honglei Copper in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Zhejiang Honglei Copper has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zhejiang Honglei Copper to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper is present in almost all the verticals within the Consumer Financial Services industry. This has provided Zhejiang Honglei Copper a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Training and development
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Organizational Resilience of Zhejiang Honglei Copper
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Zhejiang Honglei Copper does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Consumer Financial Services industry
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zhejiang Honglei Copper to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Consumer Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zhejiang Honglei Copper to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Zhejiang Honglei Copper | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Zhejiang Honglei Copper are -
Skills based hiring in Consumer Financial Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Zhejiang Honglei Copper needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Zhejiang Honglei Copper, in the dynamic environment of Consumer Financial Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Zhejiang Honglei Copper has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Zhejiang Honglei Copper is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Zhejiang Honglei Copper vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Zhejiang Honglei Copper is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Consumer Financial Services industry, but Zhejiang Honglei Copper needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zhejiang Honglei Copper to focus more on services in the Consumer Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Zhejiang Honglei Copper has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Consumer Financial Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Zhejiang Honglei Copper is one of the leading players in the Consumer Financial Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Consumer Financial Services industry in last five years.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Zhejiang Honglei Copper, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Consumer Financial Services 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zhejiang Honglei Copper has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Consumer Financial Services industry using digital technology.
Employees’ less understanding of Zhejiang Honglei Copper strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Zhejiang Honglei Copper don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Consumer Financial Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Consumer Financial Services industry.
Zhejiang Honglei Copper Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Zhejiang Honglei Copper are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Consumer Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Zhejiang Honglei Copper to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zhejiang Honglei Copper to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Consumer Financial Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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. Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Zhejiang Honglei Copper is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Zhejiang Honglei Copper can utilize new technology in the field of Consumer Financial Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zhejiang Honglei Copper in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Consumer Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Consumer Financial Services 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Consumer Financial Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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, Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
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. Zhejiang Honglei Copper can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zhejiang Honglei Copper can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Zhejiang Honglei Copper to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Consumer Financial Services industry.
Loyalty marketing
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Zhejiang Honglei Copper can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Zhejiang Honglei Copper can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Zhejiang Honglei Copper operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Consumer Financial Services sector.
Threats Zhejiang Honglei Copper External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Zhejiang Honglei Copper are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Consumer Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zhejiang Honglei Copper can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Consumer Financial Services industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zhejiang Honglei Copper in Consumer Financial Services industry. The Consumer Financial Services 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Consumer Financial Services industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Zhejiang Honglei Copper may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Consumer Financial Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Zhejiang Honglei Copper is facing in Consumer Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Zhejiang Honglei Copper has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Consumer Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zhejiang Honglei Copper needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Consumer Financial Services 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.
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.
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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper in the Consumer Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zhejiang Honglei Copper Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper 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 Zhejiang Honglei Copper needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
