ZhongTongGuoMai Communication (603559) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for ZhongTongGuoMai Communication (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the ZhongTongGuoMai Communication, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication
2. Improving business portfolio management of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Construction Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication

---

Strengths of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication are -

Ability to recruit top talent

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is one of the leading players in the Construction Services 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.

High brand equity

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Construction Services 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

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 Construction Services 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.

Training and development

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.

Innovation driven organization

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is one of the most innovative firm in Construction Services sector.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Learning organization

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

Successful track record of launching new products

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – ZhongTongGuoMai Communication staying ahead in the Construction Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 Construction Services industry

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

---

---

Weaknesses of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication are -

Skills based hiring in Construction Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of China, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Construction Services industry in last five years.

Need for greater diversity

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Construction Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Construction Services industry, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has high operating costs in the Construction Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract ZhongTongGuoMai Communication lucrative customers.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is just above the Construction Services 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Construction Services industry, but ZhongTongGuoMai Communication needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help ZhongTongGuoMai Communication to focus more on services in the Construction Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High dependence on ZhongTongGuoMai Communication ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Construction Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

---

ZhongTongGuoMai Communication Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication are -

Loyalty marketing

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Leveraging digital technologies

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can develop new processes and procedures in Construction Services 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.

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. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Construction Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled ZhongTongGuoMai Communication to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help ZhongTongGuoMai Communication to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help ZhongTongGuoMai Communication to increase its market reach. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can utilize new technology in the field of Construction Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Construction Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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.

---

Threats ZhongTongGuoMai Communication External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication are -

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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication in the Construction Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Construction Services industry are lowering. It can presents ZhongTongGuoMai Communication with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Construction Services 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication.

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. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Construction Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication prominent markets.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 Construction Services industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 Construction Services industry and other sectors.

Environmental challenges

– ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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. ZhongTongGuoMai Communication can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Construction Services industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, ZhongTongGuoMai Communication may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Construction Services sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that ZhongTongGuoMai Communication is facing in Construction Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of ZhongTongGuoMai Communication Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication 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 ZhongTongGuoMai Communication needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---