Guangdong Aofei Data A (300738) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Guangdong Aofei Data A (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Guangdong Aofei Data A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Guangdong Aofei Data A

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

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Strengths of Guangdong Aofei Data A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Guangdong Aofei Data A are -

Organizational Resilience of Guangdong Aofei Data A

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Services industry

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Guangdong Aofei Data A is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Services industry. This has provided Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Computer Services industry

– Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Training and development

– Guangdong Aofei Data A 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.

Learning organization

- Guangdong Aofei Data A is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Guangdong Aofei Data A is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Guangdong Aofei Data A emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Guangdong Aofei Data A in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Guangdong Aofei Data A is one of the leading players in the Computer 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

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

Ability to lead change in Computer Services

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

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Guangdong Aofei Data A in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Guangdong Aofei Data A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Guangdong Aofei Data A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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Weaknesses of Guangdong Aofei Data A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Guangdong Aofei Data A are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Computer Services industry over the last five years. Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Skills based hiring in Computer Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Guangdong Aofei Data A has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Computer Services industry.

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

Products dominated business model

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

Lack of clear differentiation of Guangdong Aofei Data A products

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

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Services industry, Guangdong Aofei Data A 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Guangdong Aofei Data A strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Guangdong Aofei Data A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Guangdong Aofei Data A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Guangdong Aofei Data A is planning to shift buying processes online.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Guangdong Aofei Data A, in the dynamic environment of Computer Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Guangdong Aofei Data A has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Guangdong Aofei Data A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Guangdong Aofei Data A are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Computer Services industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Guangdong Aofei Data A in the Computer Services industry. Now Guangdong Aofei Data A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Guangdong Aofei Data A 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Loyalty marketing

– Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

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. Guangdong Aofei Data A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Guangdong Aofei Data 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. Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Guangdong Aofei Data A to increase its market reach. Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

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

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Threats Guangdong Aofei Data A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Guangdong Aofei Data A are -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Guangdong Aofei Data A prominent markets.

Increasing wage structure of Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Guangdong Aofei Data A.

Easy access to finance

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

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 Guangdong Aofei Data A business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Guangdong Aofei Data A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Guangdong Aofei Data A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Services 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.

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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Guangdong Aofei Data A can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Computer Services industry.

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. Guangdong Aofei Data 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.

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 Guangdong Aofei Data A.

Regulatory challenges

– Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Computer Services industry regulations.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Guangdong Aofei Data 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 Computer Services sector.

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. Guangdong Aofei Data A needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Guangdong Aofei Data A in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Guangdong Aofei Data A Template, Example

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

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