Qingdao Liqun Department (601366) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Department & Discount)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Qingdao Liqun Department (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Qingdao Liqun Department is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Qingdao Liqun Department
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Qingdao Liqun Department can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Qingdao Liqun Department, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Qingdao Liqun Department
2. Improving business portfolio management of Qingdao Liqun Department
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Retail (Department & Discount) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Qingdao Liqun Department
Strengths of Qingdao Liqun Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Qingdao Liqun Department are -
Ability to lead change in Retail (Department & Discount)
– Qingdao Liqun Department is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Qingdao Liqun Department in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Qingdao Liqun Department is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Organizational Resilience of Qingdao Liqun Department
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Qingdao Liqun Department does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Qingdao Liqun Department has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Learning organization
- Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Qingdao Liqun Department emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Qingdao Liqun Department is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Qingdao Liqun Department has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Qingdao Liqun Department staying ahead in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Qingdao Liqun Department comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Qingdao Liqun Department has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Department & Discount) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Qingdao Liqun Department have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Qingdao Liqun Department has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Qingdao Liqun Department to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Qingdao Liqun Department to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Qingdao Liqun Department is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This has provided Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Qingdao Liqun Department are -
Employees’ less understanding of Qingdao Liqun Department strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Qingdao Liqun Department 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Qingdao Liqun Department is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Qingdao Liqun Department has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Qingdao Liqun Department has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Qingdao Liqun Department needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Qingdao Liqun Department can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Qingdao Liqun Department is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Qingdao Liqun Department 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, Qingdao Liqun Department needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Qingdao Liqun Department, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
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 Qingdao Liqun Department supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Qingdao Liqun Department is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Qingdao Liqun Department vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Qingdao Liqun Department, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Department & Discount) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Qingdao Liqun Department has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Qingdao Liqun Department Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Qingdao Liqun Department are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Qingdao Liqun Department can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Qingdao Liqun Department operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
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 Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Qingdao Liqun Department to increase its market reach. Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Qingdao Liqun Department can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Qingdao Liqun Department has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This can help Qingdao Liqun Department to build a more holistic ecosystem for Qingdao Liqun Department products in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Department & Discount) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Qingdao Liqun Department can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Qingdao Liqun Department can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Qingdao Liqun Department in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. Now Qingdao Liqun Department can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Qingdao Liqun Department has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Department & Discount) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Qingdao Liqun Department to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Qingdao Liqun Department to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Qingdao Liqun Department can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
Threats Qingdao Liqun Department External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Qingdao Liqun Department are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Department & Discount) industry are lowering. It can presents Qingdao Liqun Department with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Qingdao Liqun Department 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 (Department & Discount) industry.
Environmental challenges
– Qingdao Liqun Department 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. Qingdao Liqun Department can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Qingdao Liqun Department 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 (Department & Discount) industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Qingdao Liqun Department in Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Increasing wage structure of Qingdao Liqun Department
– 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 Qingdao Liqun Department.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Qingdao Liqun Department 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.
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. Qingdao Liqun Department needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Qingdao Liqun Department in the Retail (Department & Discount) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Qingdao Liqun Department business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Qingdao Liqun Department 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 (Department & Discount) industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Qingdao Liqun Department Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department 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 Qingdao Liqun Department needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.