Laibao Hi Tech A (2106) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Electronic Instr. & Controls
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Laibao Hi Tech A (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Laibao Hi Tech A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Laibao Hi Tech A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Laibao Hi Tech A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Laibao Hi Tech A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Laibao Hi Tech A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Electronic Instr. & Controls sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Laibao Hi Tech A
Strengths of Laibao Hi Tech A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Laibao Hi Tech A are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Laibao Hi Tech A in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Laibao Hi Tech A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Laibao Hi Tech A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Laibao Hi Tech A emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– Laibao Hi Tech A is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Laibao Hi Tech A is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Analytics focus
– Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls 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)
– Laibao Hi Tech A has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Laibao Hi Tech A staying ahead in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Laibao Hi Tech A
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Laibao Hi Tech A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Electronic Instr. & Controls
– Laibao Hi Tech A is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Laibao Hi Tech A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Laibao Hi Tech A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Laibao Hi Tech A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Laibao Hi Tech A in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Laibao Hi Tech A digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Weaknesses of Laibao Hi Tech A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Laibao Hi Tech A are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Laibao Hi Tech A is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Laibao Hi Tech A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, but Laibao Hi Tech A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Laibao Hi Tech A to focus more on services in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Laibao Hi Tech A strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Laibao Hi Tech A products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Laibao Hi Tech A needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Laibao Hi Tech A has high operating costs in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Laibao Hi Tech A lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Laibao Hi Tech A is just above the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Skills based hiring in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Laibao Hi Tech A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Laibao Hi Tech A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Laibao Hi Tech A is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Laibao Hi Tech A supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Laibao Hi Tech A is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Laibao Hi Tech A vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Laibao Hi Tech A has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry over the last five years. Laibao Hi Tech A 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Laibao Hi Tech A is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Laibao Hi Tech A to provide better information regarding Electronic Instr. & Controls products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Laibao Hi Tech A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Laibao Hi Tech A are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Laibao Hi Tech A in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. Now Laibao Hi Tech A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A 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, Laibao Hi Tech A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Laibao Hi Tech A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Laibao Hi Tech A can develop new processes and procedures in Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Laibao Hi Tech A is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Laibao Hi Tech A can utilize new technology in the field of Electronic Instr. & Controls industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Laibao Hi Tech A in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Laibao Hi Tech A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Laibao Hi Tech A to increase its market reach. Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Threats Laibao Hi Tech A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Laibao Hi Tech A are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Laibao Hi Tech A can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electronic Instr. & Controls industry are lowering. It can presents Laibao Hi Tech A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Laibao Hi Tech A will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Laibao Hi Tech A can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Laibao Hi Tech A 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Laibao Hi Tech A may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
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.
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 Laibao Hi Tech A in the Electronic Instr. & Controls sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Laibao Hi Tech A is facing in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Laibao Hi Tech A
– 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 Laibao Hi Tech A.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Laibao Hi Tech A Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A 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 Laibao Hi Tech A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.