Telling Tele A (829) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Telling Tele A (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Telling Tele A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Telling Tele A

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Telling Tele A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Telling Tele A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Telling Tele A 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Telling Tele A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Telling Tele A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Telling Tele A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Retail (Technology) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Telling Tele A

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Strengths of Telling Tele A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Telling Tele A are -

Training and development

– Telling Tele A has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Telling Tele A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Technology) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Telling Tele A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Telling Tele A 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Telling Tele A comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Technology) 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Telling Tele A is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Technology) sector.

Organizational Resilience of Telling Tele A

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Telling Tele A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Digital Transformation in Retail (Technology) industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Telling Tele A digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Telling Tele A 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.

High brand equity

– Telling Tele A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Telling Tele A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Technology) industry

– Telling Tele A is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to lead change in Retail (Technology)

– Telling Tele A is one of the leading players in the Retail (Technology) industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Technology) industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Telling Tele A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Telling Tele A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Telling Tele A 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Technology) industry

– Telling Tele A has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Telling Tele A to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Technology) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Telling Tele A to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of Telling Tele A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Telling Tele A are -

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Telling Tele A, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Technology) 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Telling Tele A is one of the leading players in the Retail (Technology) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Technology) industry in last five years.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Telling Tele A has high operating costs in the Retail (Technology) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Telling Tele A lucrative customers.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Telling Tele A has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Technology) industry over the last five years. Telling Tele A 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of China, Telling Tele A needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Telling Tele A has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Employees’ less understanding of Telling Tele A strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Telling Tele A 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Telling Tele A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Technology) industry, but Telling Tele A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Telling Tele A to focus more on services in the Retail (Technology) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High dependence on Telling Tele A ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Telling Tele A still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Technology) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Telling Tele A has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Telling Tele A is just above the Retail (Technology) 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Telling Tele A has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Technology) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Telling Tele A should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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Telling Tele A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Telling Tele A are -

Manufacturing automation

– Telling Tele A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Technology) 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.

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. Telling Tele A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Telling Tele A 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A 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 Retail (Technology) industry.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Telling Tele A 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Telling Tele A 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Technology) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Telling Tele A can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Technology) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Telling Tele A 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. Telling Tele A 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Telling Tele A has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Technology) industry. This can help Telling Tele A to build a more holistic ecosystem for Telling Tele A products in the Retail (Technology) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Telling Tele A 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Telling Tele A to increase its market reach. Telling Tele A 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Telling Tele A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Telling Tele A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Technology) sector.

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Threats Telling Tele A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Telling Tele A are -

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Telling Tele A is facing in Retail (Technology) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Telling Tele A 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. Telling Tele A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Technology) industry.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A prominent markets.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Telling Tele A 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 Retail (Technology) industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Telling Tele A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Technology) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Telling Tele A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Technology) 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Technology) industry are lowering. It can presents Telling Tele A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Technology) sector.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Telling Tele A 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 Retail (Technology) industry and other sectors.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Telling Tele A 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Telling Tele A in Retail (Technology) industry. The Retail (Technology) 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Telling Tele A may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Technology) sector.

Increasing wage structure of Telling Tele A

– 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 Telling Tele A.

Regulatory challenges

– Telling Tele A 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 Retail (Technology) industry regulations.

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 Telling Tele A.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Telling Tele A Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A 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 Telling Tele A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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