SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Shenzhen Sunline Tech (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Shenzhen Sunline Tech is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Shenzhen Sunline Tech can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shenzhen Sunline Tech, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Computer Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
Strengths of Shenzhen Sunline Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shenzhen Sunline Tech are -
High brand equity
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shenzhen Sunline Tech to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shenzhen Sunline Tech has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Organizational Resilience of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Shenzhen Sunline Tech does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Shenzhen Sunline Tech emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Shenzhen Sunline Tech comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Services 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 lead change in Computer Services
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech is one of the leading players in the Computer Services industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Services industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Shenzhen Sunline Tech in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Shenzhen Sunline Tech staying ahead in the Computer Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech is one of the leading players in the Computer 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Computer Services industry
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shenzhen Sunline Tech in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Services industry. This has provided Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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.
Weaknesses of Shenzhen Sunline Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Shenzhen Sunline Tech are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Shenzhen Sunline Tech has some of the most successful models in the Computer Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Shenzhen Sunline Tech should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Shenzhen Sunline Tech has high operating costs in the Computer Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Shenzhen Sunline Tech lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Shenzhen Sunline Tech needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Shenzhen Sunline Tech is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shenzhen Sunline Tech vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on Shenzhen Sunline Tech ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Shenzhen Sunline Tech still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Shenzhen Sunline Tech has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of Shenzhen Sunline Tech strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Shenzhen Sunline Tech is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Shenzhen Sunline Tech to provide better information regarding Computer Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Shenzhen Sunline Tech is just above the Computer Services 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Shenzhen Sunline Tech is one of the leading players in the Computer Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Services industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Computer Services industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Shenzhen Sunline Tech, in the dynamic environment of Computer Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shenzhen Sunline Tech has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Shenzhen Sunline Tech Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Shenzhen Sunline Tech are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shenzhen Sunline Tech has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Services industry. This can help Shenzhen Sunline Tech to build a more holistic ecosystem for Shenzhen Sunline Tech products in the Computer Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Computer Services industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shenzhen Sunline Tech can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shenzhen Sunline Tech operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Services sector.
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. Shenzhen Sunline Tech can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Shenzhen Sunline Tech to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shenzhen Sunline Tech to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Shenzhen Sunline Tech can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shenzhen Sunline Tech in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Services 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Shenzhen Sunline Tech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Shenzhen Sunline Tech are -
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Computer Services industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shenzhen Sunline Tech can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Shenzhen Sunline Tech
– 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech.
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, Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents Shenzhen Sunline Tech with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Services sector.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Shenzhen Sunline Tech needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shenzhen Sunline Tech is facing in Computer Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Shenzhen Sunline Tech may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Services sector.
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. Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Shenzhen Sunline Tech in Computer Services industry. The Computer 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Computer Services industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shenzhen Sunline Tech Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech 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 Shenzhen Sunline Tech needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
