Zhangzhou Dev A (753) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / 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 – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zhangzhou Dev A

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.

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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

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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 -

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.

High brand equity

– Zhangzhou Dev A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Zhangzhou Dev A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Diverse revenue streams

– Zhangzhou Dev A is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Specialty) industry. This has provided Zhangzhou Dev A 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Zhangzhou Dev A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Specialty) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Zhangzhou Dev A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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 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.

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.

Learning organization

- Zhangzhou Dev 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 Zhangzhou Dev A is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Zhangzhou Dev A emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Specialty) industry

– Zhangzhou Dev A has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zhangzhou Dev A to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zhangzhou Dev A to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Zhangzhou Dev A is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.

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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 -

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.

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.

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.

Skills based hiring in Retail (Specialty) industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Zhangzhou Dev 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.

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 Zhangzhou Dev A supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Zhangzhou Dev A is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Zhangzhou Dev A vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Zhangzhou Dev A has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

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.

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.

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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Zhangzhou Dev A has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry over the last five years. Zhangzhou Dev A 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 dependence on Zhangzhou Dev A ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Zhangzhou Dev A still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Specialty) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Zhangzhou Dev A has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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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.

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.

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.

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. Zhangzhou Dev A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Specialty) industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Zhangzhou Dev A in the Retail (Specialty) industry. Now Zhangzhou Dev A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Zhangzhou Dev A can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Specialty) 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.

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.

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.

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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zhangzhou Dev A 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.

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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Specialty) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zhangzhou Dev A can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

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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 -

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Zhangzhou Dev 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Zhangzhou Dev A in the Retail (Specialty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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.

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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Retail (Specialty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zhangzhou Dev A can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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.

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. Zhangzhou Dev 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.

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.

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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.

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