SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for EmbedWay Shanghai (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , EmbedWay Shanghai is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EmbedWay Shanghai
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that EmbedWay Shanghai can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the EmbedWay Shanghai, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of EmbedWay Shanghai
2. Improving business portfolio management of EmbedWay Shanghai
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Computer Hardware sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of EmbedWay Shanghai
Strengths of EmbedWay Shanghai | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of EmbedWay Shanghai are -
Training and development
– EmbedWay Shanghai has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Learning organization
- EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at EmbedWay Shanghai emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Hardware industry
– EmbedWay Shanghai has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled EmbedWay Shanghai to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Hardware industry. The sustainable margins have also helped EmbedWay Shanghai to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– EmbedWay Shanghai has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – EmbedWay Shanghai staying ahead in the Computer Hardware industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Computer Hardware
– EmbedWay Shanghai is one of the leading players in the Computer Hardware industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Hardware industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled EmbedWay Shanghai in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– EmbedWay Shanghai is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Hardware industry. This has provided EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Organizational Resilience of EmbedWay Shanghai
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing EmbedWay Shanghai does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of EmbedWay Shanghai in Computer Hardware industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that EmbedWay Shanghai has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of EmbedWay Shanghai comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Hardware 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.
Weaknesses of EmbedWay Shanghai | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EmbedWay Shanghai are -
Lack of clear differentiation of EmbedWay Shanghai products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, EmbedWay Shanghai needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Hardware industry, EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that EmbedWay Shanghai needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Hardware industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at EmbedWay Shanghai can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as EmbedWay Shanghai is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on EmbedWay Shanghai ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of EmbedWay Shanghai still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Hardware industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though EmbedWay Shanghai has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Hardware industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, EmbedWay Shanghai has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Hardware industry over the last five years. EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware industry using digital technology.
Products dominated business model
– Even though EmbedWay Shanghai has some of the most successful models in the Computer Hardware industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. EmbedWay Shanghai should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of EmbedWay Shanghai is just above the Computer Hardware 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, EmbedWay Shanghai needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
EmbedWay Shanghai Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of EmbedWay Shanghai are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for EmbedWay Shanghai in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Hardware industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects EmbedWay Shanghai can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of EmbedWay Shanghai has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Hardware industry. This can help EmbedWay Shanghai to build a more holistic ecosystem for EmbedWay Shanghai products in the Computer Hardware industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– EmbedWay Shanghai can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Hardware 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
– EmbedWay Shanghai can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Hardware 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Hardware industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. EmbedWay Shanghai 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. EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. EmbedWay Shanghai can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, EmbedWay Shanghai can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that EmbedWay Shanghai operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Hardware sector.
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. EmbedWay Shanghai can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
Threats EmbedWay Shanghai External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of EmbedWay Shanghai are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, EmbedWay Shanghai may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Hardware sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– EmbedWay Shanghai has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Hardware industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, EmbedWay Shanghai needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Hardware 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– EmbedWay Shanghai 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.
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. EmbedWay Shanghai needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Hardware industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– EmbedWay Shanghai 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. EmbedWay Shanghai can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Hardware industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Hardware industry are lowering. It can presents EmbedWay Shanghai with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Hardware sector.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware industry regulations.
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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for EmbedWay Shanghai in Computer Hardware industry. The Computer Hardware 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on EmbedWay Shanghai 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 Computer Hardware industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EmbedWay Shanghai Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai 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 EmbedWay Shanghai needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.