SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Xinjiang Guannong (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Xinjiang Guannong is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Xinjiang Guannong
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Xinjiang Guannong can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Xinjiang Guannong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Xinjiang Guannong
2. Improving business portfolio management of Xinjiang Guannong
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Xinjiang Guannong
Strengths of Xinjiang Guannong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Xinjiang Guannong are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Crops industry
– Xinjiang Guannong has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Xinjiang Guannong to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Crops industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Xinjiang Guannong to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Xinjiang Guannong has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.
Ability to lead change in Crops
– Xinjiang Guannong is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Crops industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry
– Xinjiang Guannong is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Xinjiang Guannong in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Xinjiang Guannong is one of the leading players in the Crops 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
– Xinjiang Guannong is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Xinjiang Guannong has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Xinjiang Guannong have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Xinjiang Guannong has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Xinjiang Guannong staying ahead in the Crops industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Crops industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Xinjiang Guannong digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Xinjiang Guannong 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.
High brand equity
– Xinjiang Guannong has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Xinjiang Guannong to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Xinjiang Guannong is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Xinjiang Guannong are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, Xinjiang Guannong 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Xinjiang Guannong needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Xinjiang Guannong 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Xinjiang Guannong products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Xinjiang Guannong needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Xinjiang Guannong, in the dynamic environment of Crops industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Xinjiang Guannong has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Xinjiang Guannong 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.
High dependence on Xinjiang Guannong ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Xinjiang Guannong still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Crops industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Xinjiang Guannong has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Crops industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Xinjiang Guannong has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Crops industry over the last five years. Xinjiang Guannong 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Xinjiang Guannong has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Crops industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Xinjiang Guannong Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Xinjiang Guannong are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Xinjiang Guannong is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Xinjiang Guannong can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Xinjiang Guannong in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Crops industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Xinjiang Guannong has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Crops sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Xinjiang Guannong to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Xinjiang Guannong to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Xinjiang Guannong can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Xinjiang Guannong can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Crops sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
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. Xinjiang Guannong can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Xinjiang Guannong 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. Xinjiang Guannong 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Xinjiang Guannong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Xinjiang Guannong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Crops sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Crops industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Xinjiang Guannong in the Crops industry. Now Xinjiang Guannong can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Crops industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Xinjiang Guannong can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Xinjiang Guannong to increase its market reach. Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Xinjiang Guannong are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Xinjiang Guannong may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Crops sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong prominent markets.
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 Xinjiang Guannong.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Xinjiang Guannong is facing in Crops sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Xinjiang Guannong
– 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 Xinjiang Guannong.
Environmental challenges
– Xinjiang Guannong 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. Xinjiang Guannong can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Crops industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Xinjiang Guannong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Xinjiang Guannong needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology 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.
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. Xinjiang Guannong 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Xinjiang Guannong with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Xinjiang Guannong 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Xinjiang Guannong Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.