SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nantong Metalforming Equipment (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nantong Metalforming Equipment is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nantong Metalforming Equipment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nantong Metalforming Equipment can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nantong Metalforming Equipment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nantong Metalforming Equipment
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nantong Metalforming Equipment
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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment
Strengths of Nantong Metalforming Equipment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nantong Metalforming Equipment are -
High brand equity
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nantong Metalforming Equipment to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Advertising industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nantong Metalforming Equipment digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Advertising industry
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Advertising industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Nantong Metalforming Equipment have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nantong Metalforming Equipment in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Nantong Metalforming Equipment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nantong Metalforming Equipment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Nantong Metalforming Equipment staying ahead in the Advertising industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Advertising industry
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nantong Metalforming Equipment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Advertising industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nantong Metalforming Equipment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Advertising
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment is one of the leading players in the Advertising 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment is one of the most innovative firm in Advertising sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment is present in almost all the verticals within the Advertising industry. This has provided Nantong Metalforming Equipment a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses of Nantong Metalforming Equipment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nantong Metalforming Equipment are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Nantong Metalforming Equipment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Advertising industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nantong Metalforming Equipment products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nantong Metalforming Equipment needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Advertising industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Nantong Metalforming Equipment is just above the Advertising 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nantong Metalforming Equipment is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nantong Metalforming Equipment to provide better information regarding Advertising products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Nantong Metalforming Equipment supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Nantong Metalforming Equipment is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nantong Metalforming Equipment vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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, Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Nantong Metalforming Equipment is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Advertising industry in last five years.
Nantong Metalforming Equipment Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nantong Metalforming Equipment are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Advertising industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Nantong Metalforming Equipment can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nantong Metalforming Equipment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nantong Metalforming Equipment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Advertising industry. This can help Nantong Metalforming Equipment to build a more holistic ecosystem for Nantong Metalforming Equipment products in the Advertising industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nantong Metalforming Equipment in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Advertising industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nantong Metalforming Equipment can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nantong Metalforming Equipment operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Advertising sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Advertising industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nantong Metalforming Equipment in the Advertising industry. Now Nantong Metalforming Equipment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Threats Nantong Metalforming Equipment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nantong Metalforming Equipment are -
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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Advertising industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Advertising industry are lowering. It can presents Nantong Metalforming Equipment with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Advertising sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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.
Environmental challenges
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Advertising industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Advertising industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Nantong Metalforming Equipment may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Advertising sector.
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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment in the Advertising sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Nantong Metalforming Equipment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nantong Metalforming Equipment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment 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 Nantong Metalforming Equipment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
