Zhangzhou Dev A (753) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Specialty)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Zhangzhou Dev A (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Zhangzhou Dev A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Zhangzhou Dev A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zhangzhou Dev A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Zhangzhou Dev A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zhangzhou Dev A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Retail (Specialty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zhangzhou Dev A
Strengths of Zhangzhou Dev A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zhangzhou Dev A are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zhangzhou Dev A has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Zhangzhou Dev A staying ahead in the Retail (Specialty) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zhangzhou Dev A is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Zhangzhou Dev A comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Zhangzhou Dev A
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Zhangzhou Dev A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Specialty) industry
– Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Zhangzhou Dev A in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Zhangzhou Dev A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zhangzhou Dev A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zhangzhou Dev A in Retail (Specialty) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Zhangzhou Dev A is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Zhangzhou Dev A 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Zhangzhou Dev A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Specialty)
– Zhangzhou Dev A is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Specialty) industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Zhangzhou Dev A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Zhangzhou Dev A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Zhangzhou Dev A are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Zhangzhou Dev A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Specialty) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Zhangzhou Dev A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Zhangzhou Dev A is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Zhangzhou Dev A 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Zhangzhou Dev A needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Specialty) industry, Zhangzhou Dev A 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Zhangzhou Dev A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, but Zhangzhou Dev A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zhangzhou Dev A to focus more on services in the Retail (Specialty) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Zhangzhou Dev A is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Zhangzhou Dev A to provide better information regarding Retail (Specialty) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Zhangzhou Dev A has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Specialty) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Zhangzhou Dev A should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Zhangzhou Dev A, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Specialty) 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zhangzhou Dev A 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 Retail (Specialty) industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Zhangzhou Dev A products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Zhangzhou Dev A needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Zhangzhou Dev A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Zhangzhou Dev A are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev 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 Retail (Specialty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Zhangzhou Dev A is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Zhangzhou Dev A can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Specialty) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Zhangzhou Dev A can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Specialty) 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 Zhangzhou Dev A 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 Zhangzhou Dev A has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Specialty) industry. This can help Zhangzhou Dev A to build a more holistic ecosystem for Zhangzhou Dev A products in the Retail (Specialty) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zhangzhou Dev 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Zhangzhou Dev A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Zhangzhou Dev A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Specialty) sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zhangzhou Dev A has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Specialty) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Zhangzhou Dev A to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zhangzhou Dev A to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Zhangzhou Dev A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Specialty) 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.
Threats Zhangzhou Dev A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Zhangzhou Dev A are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Zhangzhou Dev 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 Retail (Specialty) industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Zhangzhou Dev A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Specialty) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zhangzhou Dev A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
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. Zhangzhou Dev A needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Specialty) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Specialty) industry are lowering. It can presents Zhangzhou Dev A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Specialty) sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Zhangzhou Dev 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 Retail (Specialty) sector.
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 Zhangzhou Dev A.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Zhangzhou Dev 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev A prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zhangzhou Dev A in Retail (Specialty) industry. The Retail (Specialty) 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.
Increasing wage structure of Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev A.
Environmental challenges
– Zhangzhou Dev 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. Zhangzhou Dev A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Zhangzhou Dev A is facing in Retail (Specialty) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zhangzhou Dev A Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.