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 – increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is backlash against globalization, 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 -
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Xinjiang Guannong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Xinjiang Guannong 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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Xinjiang Guannong comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Crops 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.
Analytics focus
– Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops 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.
Organizational Resilience of Xinjiang Guannong
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Xinjiang Guannong does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Xinjiang Guannong in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Xinjiang Guannong has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Xinjiang Guannong to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Xinjiang Guannong 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
– 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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Xinjiang Guannong is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring in Crops industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Xinjiang Guannong 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.
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.
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 Xinjiang Guannong supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Xinjiang Guannong is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Xinjiang Guannong vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Xinjiang Guannong needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Crops industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Xinjiang Guannong can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Xinjiang Guannong is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Xinjiang Guannong is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Crops industry, but Xinjiang Guannong needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Xinjiang Guannong to focus more on services in the Crops industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Xinjiang Guannong, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Crops 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.
Xinjiang Guannong Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Xinjiang Guannong are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Xinjiang Guannong 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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Xinjiang Guannong 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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Xinjiang Guannong can develop new processes and procedures in Crops 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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Xinjiang Guannong can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Xinjiang Guannong 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 Xinjiang Guannong to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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.
Threats Xinjiang Guannong External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Xinjiang Guannong are -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Xinjiang Guannong business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry regulations.
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Xinjiang Guannong 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 Crops industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Xinjiang Guannong in Crops industry. The Crops 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.
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 Xinjiang Guannong in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.