Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
2. Improving business portfolio management of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Software & Programming sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
Strengths of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is one of the leading players in the Software & Programming industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Software & Programming industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Software & Programming industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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
- Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Software & Programming industry
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Software & Programming industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Software & Programming industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Weaknesses of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle are -
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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
High dependence on Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Software & Programming industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is just above the Software & Programming 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has high operating costs in the Software & Programming industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Software & Programming industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Software & Programming industry over the last five years. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Software & Programming industry, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Software & Programming industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle in the Software & Programming industry. Now Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to increase its market reach. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Software & Programming industry. This can help Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle to build a more holistic ecosystem for Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle products in the Software & Programming industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Software & Programming 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can utilize new technology in the field of Software & Programming industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Software & Programming sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming industry and other sectors.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Software & Programming industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Software & Programming 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle is facing in Software & Programming sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Software & Programming industry are lowering. It can presents Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Software & Programming sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Software & Programming industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle
– 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Software & Programming 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle in the Software & Programming sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle in Software & Programming industry. The Software & Programming 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle 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 Changzhou Youon Pubilic Bicycle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.