Shanghai Greencourt Invest A (600695) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Shanghai Greencourt Invest A (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A

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

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Strengths of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A are -

Training and development

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is one of the leading players in the Food Processing 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.

Ability to lead change in Food Processing

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Food Processing industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Shanghai Greencourt Invest A in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Food Processing industry

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Food Processing industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Organizational Resilience of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Shanghai Greencourt Invest A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A in Food Processing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Food Processing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

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

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Weaknesses of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A are -

Lack of clear differentiation of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A products

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of China, Shanghai Greencourt Invest A needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High dependence on Shanghai Greencourt Invest A ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Food Processing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Skills based hiring in Food Processing industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is just above the Food Processing 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.

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

High bargaining power of channel partners in Food Processing industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Food Processing industry.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has some of the most successful models in the Food Processing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Shanghai Greencourt Invest A should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ less understanding of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

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Shanghai Greencourt Invest A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Food Processing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Buying journey improvements

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Food Processing 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shanghai Greencourt Invest A to increase its market reach. Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Manufacturing automation

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Food Processing 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Food Processing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Shanghai Greencourt Invest A 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. Shanghai Greencourt Invest A 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Food Processing industry.

Developing new processes and practices

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can develop new processes and procedures in Food Processing 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.

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Threats Shanghai Greencourt Invest A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A are -

Increasing wage structure of Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate Shanghai Greencourt Invest A prominent markets.

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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A in the Food Processing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Shanghai Greencourt Invest A is facing in Food Processing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Shanghai Greencourt Invest A may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Food Processing sector.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

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. Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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.

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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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. Shanghai Greencourt Invest A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Food Processing industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Shanghai Greencourt Invest 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 Food Processing industry and other sectors.

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 Shanghai Greencourt Invest A.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Shanghai Greencourt Invest A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Food Processing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shanghai Greencourt Invest A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Food Processing 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shanghai Greencourt Invest A Template, Example

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

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