Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media (2181) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Advertising
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Advertising sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media
Strengths of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Advertising industry
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Advertising industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Advertising
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Advertising industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Advertising industry
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Advertising 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.
Learning organization
- Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is present in almost all the verticals within the Advertising industry. This has provided Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media in Advertising industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Advertising industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has some of the most successful models in the Advertising industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in Advertising industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to provide better information regarding Advertising products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Advertising industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Advertising industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Advertising industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Advertising industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Advertising industry, but Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to focus more on services in the Advertising industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Advertising industry over the last five years. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Advertising 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Advertising industry. This can help Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to build a more holistic ecosystem for Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media products in the Advertising industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Advertising industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to increase its market reach. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Advertising 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can develop new processes and procedures in Advertising 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Advertising sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Advertising industry.
Buying journey improvements
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Advertising 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media are -
Environmental challenges
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Advertising industry.
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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media in Advertising industry. The Advertising 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Advertising industry are lowering. It can presents Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Advertising sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Advertising industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Advertising industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media
– 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media.
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.
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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Advertising industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Advertising 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Advertising industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 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 Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
