SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Geo-Jade Petroleum (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Geo-Jade Petroleum is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Geo-Jade Petroleum
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Geo-Jade Petroleum can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Geo-Jade Petroleum, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Geo-Jade Petroleum
2. Improving business portfolio management of Geo-Jade Petroleum
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Oil & Gas - Integrated sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Geo-Jade Petroleum
Strengths of Geo-Jade Petroleum | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Geo-Jade Petroleum are -
High brand equity
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Geo-Jade Petroleum to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Geo-Jade Petroleum in Oil & Gas - Integrated industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Geo-Jade Petroleum comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Oil & Gas - Integrated 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Oil & Gas - Integrated industry
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Geo-Jade Petroleum to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Geo-Jade Petroleum to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Geo-Jade Petroleum is one of the leading players in the Oil & Gas - Integrated 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Geo-Jade Petroleum has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Geo-Jade Petroleum staying ahead in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Oil & Gas - Integrated industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Geo-Jade Petroleum have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Oil & Gas - Integrated
– Geo-Jade Petroleum is one of the leading players in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Geo-Jade Petroleum in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry
– Geo-Jade Petroleum is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Geo-Jade Petroleum is one of the most innovative firm in Oil & Gas - Integrated sector.
Weaknesses of Geo-Jade Petroleum | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Geo-Jade Petroleum are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Geo-Jade Petroleum is just above the Oil & Gas - Integrated 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Geo-Jade Petroleum products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Geo-Jade Petroleum needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Geo-Jade Petroleum has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Oil & Gas - Integrated 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Geo-Jade Petroleum has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry over the last five years. Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry, but Geo-Jade Petroleum needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Geo-Jade Petroleum to focus more on services in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Geo-Jade Petroleum, in the dynamic environment of Oil & Gas - Integrated industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Geo-Jade Petroleum has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Geo-Jade Petroleum has high operating costs in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Geo-Jade Petroleum lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Geo-Jade Petroleum is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Geo-Jade Petroleum vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Geo-Jade Petroleum is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Geo-Jade Petroleum to provide better information regarding Oil & Gas - Integrated products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Oil & Gas - Integrated industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated industry.
Geo-Jade Petroleum Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Geo-Jade Petroleum are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Geo-Jade Petroleum can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Geo-Jade Petroleum can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated 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, Geo-Jade Petroleum can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Geo-Jade Petroleum operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Oil & Gas - Integrated sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Geo-Jade Petroleum in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Geo-Jade Petroleum has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Oil & Gas - Integrated industry. This can help Geo-Jade Petroleum to build a more holistic ecosystem for Geo-Jade Petroleum products in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Geo-Jade Petroleum can develop new processes and procedures in Oil & Gas - Integrated 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Geo-Jade Petroleum 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Geo-Jade Petroleum has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Oil & Gas - Integrated sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Geo-Jade Petroleum to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Geo-Jade Petroleum to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Geo-Jade Petroleum is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Geo-Jade Petroleum can utilize new technology in the field of Oil & Gas - Integrated industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Geo-Jade Petroleum External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Geo-Jade Petroleum are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Geo-Jade Petroleum 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.
Increasing wage structure of Geo-Jade Petroleum
– 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Oil & Gas - Integrated industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Geo-Jade Petroleum can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Geo-Jade Petroleum is facing in Oil & Gas - Integrated sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated industry and other sectors.
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 Geo-Jade Petroleum in the Oil & Gas - Integrated sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Geo-Jade Petroleum 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. Geo-Jade Petroleum can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Oil & Gas - Integrated industry.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Oil & Gas - Integrated industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Oil & Gas - Integrated industry are lowering. It can presents Geo-Jade Petroleum with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Oil & Gas - Integrated sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Geo-Jade Petroleum may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Oil & Gas - Integrated sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Geo-Jade Petroleum Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum 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 Geo-Jade Petroleum needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.