Huangshan Novel A (2014) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Containers & Packaging
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Huangshan Novel A (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Huangshan Novel A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – 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, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Huangshan Novel A
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Huangshan Novel A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Huangshan Novel A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Huangshan Novel A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Huangshan Novel A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Containers & Packaging sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Huangshan Novel A
Strengths of Huangshan Novel A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Huangshan Novel A are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Huangshan Novel A in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Huangshan Novel A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Huangshan Novel A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Huangshan Novel A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Huangshan Novel A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Huangshan Novel A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Huangshan Novel A 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.
Learning organization
- Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel A is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Huangshan Novel A emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Huangshan Novel A is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging 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.
Organizational Resilience of Huangshan Novel A
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Huangshan Novel A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Huangshan Novel A has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Huangshan Novel A staying ahead in the Containers & Packaging industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Huangshan Novel A is one of the most innovative firm in Containers & Packaging sector.
Analytics focus
– Huangshan Novel 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 Containers & Packaging 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Huangshan Novel A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Containers & Packaging industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Huangshan Novel A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Containers & Packaging
– Huangshan Novel A is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Containers & Packaging industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Huangshan Novel A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Huangshan Novel A in Containers & Packaging industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Huangshan Novel A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Huangshan Novel A are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Huangshan Novel A is one of the leading players in the Containers & Packaging industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Containers & Packaging industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Huangshan Novel A products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Huangshan Novel A 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 Huangshan Novel A, in the dynamic environment of Containers & Packaging industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Huangshan Novel A has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Huangshan Novel A supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Huangshan Novel A is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Huangshan Novel A vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of Huangshan Novel A strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Huangshan Novel 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Huangshan Novel A needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Huangshan Novel A 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Huangshan Novel A has high operating costs in the Containers & Packaging industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Huangshan Novel A lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Huangshan Novel A is just above the Containers & Packaging 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 Containers & Packaging industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Huangshan Novel 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Huangshan Novel A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Containers & Packaging industry, but Huangshan Novel A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Huangshan Novel A to focus more on services in the Containers & Packaging industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Huangshan Novel A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Huangshan Novel A are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel A to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Huangshan Novel 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Huangshan Novel A has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Containers & Packaging sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Huangshan Novel A to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Huangshan Novel A to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Huangshan Novel 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 Containers & Packaging industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Huangshan Novel A can develop new processes and procedures in Containers & Packaging 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Huangshan Novel A can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Huangshan Novel A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Containers & Packaging 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Huangshan Novel A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Huangshan Novel A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Containers & Packaging sector.
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 Huangshan Novel 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Huangshan Novel A 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 Huangshan Novel A to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Huangshan Novel 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 Containers & Packaging industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Containers & Packaging industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Huangshan Novel A in the Containers & Packaging industry. Now Huangshan Novel A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Huangshan Novel 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.
Threats Huangshan Novel A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Huangshan Novel A are -
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 Huangshan Novel A business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Huangshan Novel 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 Containers & Packaging industry.
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 Huangshan Novel A in the Containers & Packaging sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Huangshan Novel 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel A prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– Huangshan Novel A 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. Huangshan Novel A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Containers & Packaging industry.
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. Huangshan Novel 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Huangshan Novel A 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 Containers & Packaging industry and other sectors.
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 Huangshan Novel A.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Containers & Packaging industry are lowering. It can presents Huangshan Novel A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Containers & Packaging sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Huangshan Novel 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 Containers & Packaging 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Huangshan Novel A Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel 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 Huangshan Novel A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.