SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Olympic Circuit Tech (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Olympic Circuit Tech is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Olympic Circuit Tech
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Olympic Circuit Tech can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Olympic Circuit Tech, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Olympic Circuit Tech
2. Improving business portfolio management of Olympic Circuit Tech
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Semiconductors sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Olympic Circuit Tech
Strengths of Olympic Circuit Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Olympic Circuit Tech are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Olympic Circuit Tech has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Olympic Circuit Tech staying ahead in the Semiconductors 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 Olympic Circuit Tech in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Olympic Circuit Tech has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Olympic Circuit Tech to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Olympic Circuit Tech is present in almost all the verticals within the Semiconductors industry. This has provided Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Analytics focus
– Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Semiconductors 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 Semiconductors industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Olympic Circuit Tech digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Olympic Circuit Tech is one of the most innovative firm in Semiconductors sector.
Learning organization
- Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Olympic Circuit Tech emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Olympic Circuit Tech comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Semiconductors 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Olympic Circuit Tech has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Olympic Circuit Tech is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors 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.
Ability to lead change in Semiconductors
– Olympic Circuit Tech is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Semiconductors industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Olympic Circuit Tech in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Olympic Circuit Tech in Semiconductors industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Olympic Circuit Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Olympic Circuit Tech are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Semiconductors industry, Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Olympic Circuit Tech strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Olympic Circuit Tech, in the dynamic environment of Semiconductors industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Olympic Circuit Tech has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Olympic Circuit Tech is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Semiconductors industry, but Olympic Circuit Tech needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Olympic Circuit Tech to focus more on services in the Semiconductors industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Semiconductors industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Semiconductors industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Olympic Circuit Tech products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Olympic Circuit Tech needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Olympic Circuit Tech is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Semiconductors industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Olympic Circuit Tech is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Olympic Circuit Tech to provide better information regarding Semiconductors products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in Semiconductors industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Olympic Circuit Tech Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Olympic Circuit Tech are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Olympic Circuit Tech has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Semiconductors sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Olympic Circuit Tech to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Olympic Circuit Tech to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Olympic Circuit Tech can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Olympic Circuit Tech operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Semiconductors sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Olympic Circuit Tech to increase its market reach. Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Olympic Circuit Tech can develop new processes and procedures in Semiconductors 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Olympic Circuit Tech can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Semiconductors 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Semiconductors industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Olympic Circuit Tech 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. Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Semiconductors industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Olympic Circuit Tech can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Olympic Circuit Tech in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Semiconductors industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Olympic Circuit Tech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Olympic Circuit Tech are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Olympic Circuit Tech has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Semiconductors industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Olympic Circuit Tech needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Semiconductors 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Semiconductors industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Olympic Circuit Tech can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Olympic Circuit Tech needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Semiconductors 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 Olympic Circuit Tech in the Semiconductors sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Olympic Circuit Tech is facing in Semiconductors sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Olympic Circuit Tech
– 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 Olympic Circuit Tech.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Semiconductors industry are lowering. It can presents Olympic Circuit Tech with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Semiconductors sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Olympic Circuit Tech 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.
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 Olympic Circuit Tech.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Olympic Circuit Tech in Semiconductors industry. The Semiconductors 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.
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 Olympic Circuit Tech business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Olympic Circuit Tech Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech 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 Olympic Circuit Tech needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
