SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment
2. Improving business portfolio management of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Apparel/Accessories sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment
Strengths of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment are -
Innovation driven organization
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is one of the most innovative firm in Apparel/Accessories sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Apparel/Accessories industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories 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.
Digital Transformation in Apparel/Accessories industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Apparel/Accessories industry
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Apparel/Accessories industry. The sustainable margins have also helped BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Apparel/Accessories industry
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is present in almost all the verticals within the Apparel/Accessories industry. This has provided BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is one of the leading players in the Apparel/Accessories 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Apparel/Accessories 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Weaknesses of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is just above the Apparel/Accessories 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is one of the leading players in the Apparel/Accessories industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Apparel/Accessories industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Apparel/Accessories industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has some of the most successful models in the Apparel/Accessories industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Apparel/Accessories industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Apparel/Accessories industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.
Employees’ less understanding of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Skills based hiring in Apparel/Accessories industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has high operating costs in the Apparel/Accessories industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment lucrative customers.
BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Apparel/Accessories industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment in the Apparel/Accessories industry. Now BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Apparel/Accessories industry. This can help BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to build a more holistic ecosystem for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment products in the Apparel/Accessories industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can utilize new technology in the field of Apparel/Accessories industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Buying journey improvements
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Apparel/Accessories 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Apparel/Accessories sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Apparel/Accessories industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Apparel/Accessories industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.
Threats BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment are -
Regulatory challenges
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment
– 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment.
Environmental challenges
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Apparel/Accessories industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Apparel/Accessories industry are lowering. It can presents BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Apparel/Accessories sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment is facing in Apparel/Accessories sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment in Apparel/Accessories industry. The Apparel/Accessories 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.
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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Apparel/Accessories industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment 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 BIEM.L .FDLKK Garment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.