Guizhou Jiulian A (2037) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Chemical Manufacturing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Guizhou Jiulian A (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Guizhou Jiulian A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Guizhou Jiulian A
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Guizhou Jiulian A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guizhou Jiulian A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Guizhou Jiulian A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guizhou Jiulian A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Guizhou Jiulian A
Strengths of Guizhou Jiulian A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Guizhou Jiulian A are -
Ability to lead change in Chemical Manufacturing
– Guizhou Jiulian A is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Guizhou Jiulian A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Guizhou Jiulian A
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Guizhou Jiulian A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Chemical Manufacturing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Guizhou Jiulian A digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Guizhou Jiulian A 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.
Training and development
– Guizhou Jiulian A has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Guizhou Jiulian A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Chemical Manufacturing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Guizhou Jiulian A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Guizhou Jiulian A in Chemical Manufacturing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Guizhou Jiulian A is present in almost all the verticals within the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This has provided Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Guizhou Jiulian A is one of the most innovative firm in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Guizhou Jiulian A has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Guizhou Jiulian A to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Guizhou Jiulian A to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Guizhou Jiulian 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.
High brand equity
– Guizhou Jiulian A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Guizhou Jiulian A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Guizhou Jiulian A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Guizhou Jiulian A are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Guizhou Jiulian A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Chemical Manufacturing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Guizhou Jiulian A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Guizhou Jiulian A is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Guizhou Jiulian A, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Guizhou Jiulian A strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Guizhou Jiulian A don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Guizhou Jiulian A is just above the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Guizhou Jiulian A is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Guizhou Jiulian A to provide better information regarding Chemical Manufacturing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guizhou Jiulian 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry over the last five years. Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Guizhou Jiulian A products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Guizhou Jiulian A needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Guizhou Jiulian A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, but Guizhou Jiulian A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Guizhou Jiulian A to focus more on services in the Chemical Manufacturing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Guizhou Jiulian A ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Guizhou Jiulian A still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Chemical Manufacturing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Guizhou Jiulian A has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Guizhou Jiulian A needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Guizhou Jiulian A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Guizhou Jiulian A are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Guizhou Jiulian A to increase its market reach. Guizhou Jiulian A 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Guizhou Jiulian A in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. Now Guizhou Jiulian A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Guizhou Jiulian A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Guizhou Jiulian A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guizhou Jiulian A can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Guizhou Jiulian A is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Guizhou Jiulian A can utilize new technology in the field of Chemical Manufacturing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Guizhou Jiulian A has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can help Guizhou Jiulian A to build a more holistic ecosystem for Guizhou Jiulian A products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Guizhou Jiulian 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Guizhou Jiulian A has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Chemical Manufacturing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Guizhou Jiulian A to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Guizhou Jiulian A to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Guizhou Jiulian 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.
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. Guizhou Jiulian A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Guizhou Jiulian A to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Guizhou Jiulian A to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Guizhou Jiulian A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Chemical Manufacturing 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 Guizhou Jiulian A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Guizhou Jiulian A are -
Increasing wage structure of Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian A.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemical Manufacturing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Guizhou Jiulian A can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Guizhou Jiulian A.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Guizhou Jiulian A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Guizhou Jiulian A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Guizhou Jiulian A needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Chemical Manufacturing industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Guizhou Jiulian 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Guizhou Jiulian 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. Guizhou Jiulian A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Chemical Manufacturing industry are lowering. It can presents Guizhou Jiulian A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Chemical Manufacturing sector.
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 Guizhou Jiulian A in the Chemical Manufacturing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Guizhou Jiulian 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.
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. Guizhou Jiulian A needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Guizhou Jiulian A Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian 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 Guizhou Jiulian A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.