Dalian Zeus Entertainment (2354) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Dalian Zeus Entertainment (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Dalian Zeus Entertainment is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dalian Zeus Entertainment

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Dalian Zeus Entertainment can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dalian Zeus Entertainment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Dalian Zeus Entertainment
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dalian Zeus Entertainment
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Software & Programming sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Dalian Zeus Entertainment

---

Strengths of Dalian Zeus Entertainment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Dalian Zeus Entertainment are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Software & Programming industry

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dalian Zeus Entertainment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Software & Programming industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dalian Zeus Entertainment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to lead change in Software & Programming

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment is one of the leading players in the Software & Programming industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Software & Programming industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Dalian Zeus Entertainment in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Innovation driven organization

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment is one of the most innovative firm in Software & Programming sector.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Dalian Zeus Entertainment comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Software & Programming 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Software & Programming industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Dalian Zeus Entertainment have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Organizational Resilience of Dalian Zeus Entertainment

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

Learning organization

- Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Dalian Zeus Entertainment emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Training and development

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment has one of the best training and development program in Technology industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Analytics focus

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Software & Programming 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Dalian Zeus Entertainment staying ahead in the Software & Programming industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Dalian Zeus Entertainment in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Dalian Zeus Entertainment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dalian Zeus Entertainment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

---

---

Weaknesses of Dalian Zeus Entertainment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Dalian Zeus Entertainment are -

Skills based hiring in Software & Programming industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Dalian Zeus Entertainment is just above the Software & Programming 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Dalian Zeus Entertainment strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of China, Dalian Zeus Entertainment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Dalian Zeus Entertainment is one of the leading players in the Software & Programming industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Software & Programming industry in last five years.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Dalian Zeus Entertainment is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Software & Programming industry, but Dalian Zeus Entertainment needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dalian Zeus Entertainment to focus more on services in the Software & Programming industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Dalian Zeus Entertainment has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Software & Programming industry using digital technology.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Software & Programming industry, Dalian Zeus Entertainment needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

High dependence on Dalian Zeus Entertainment ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Dalian Zeus Entertainment still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Software & Programming industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Dalian Zeus Entertainment has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Dalian Zeus Entertainment needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Software & Programming industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Dalian Zeus Entertainment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dalian Zeus Entertainment is planning to shift buying processes online.

Need for greater diversity

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

---

Dalian Zeus Entertainment Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Dalian Zeus Entertainment are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Software & Programming 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Software & Programming industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Dalian Zeus Entertainment can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Software & Programming industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Dalian Zeus Entertainment in the Software & Programming industry. Now Dalian Zeus Entertainment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Software & Programming industry.

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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Software & Programming 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dalian Zeus Entertainment is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dalian Zeus Entertainment can utilize new technology in the field of Software & Programming industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

---

Threats Dalian Zeus Entertainment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Dalian Zeus Entertainment are -

Regulatory challenges

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Software & Programming industry regulations.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Dalian Zeus Entertainment

– 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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Software & Programming industry are lowering. It can presents Dalian Zeus Entertainment with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Software & Programming sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dalian Zeus Entertainment in Software & Programming industry. The Software & Programming 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Software & Programming industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Dalian Zeus Entertainment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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 Software & Programming industry and other sectors.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Dalian Zeus Entertainment is facing in Software & Programming sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment 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.

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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Dalian Zeus Entertainment has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Software & Programming industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dalian Zeus Entertainment needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Software & Programming 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.

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 Dalian Zeus Entertainment in the Software & Programming sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dalian Zeus Entertainment Template, Example

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

--- ---