SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech
Strengths of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Learning organization
- Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Crops 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Ability to lead change in Crops
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Crops industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech staying ahead in the Crops industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management in the Crops industry
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Crops industry
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Crops industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops 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.
Weaknesses of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has some of the most successful models in the Crops industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is one of the leading players in the Crops industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Crops industry in last five years.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Crops industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has high operating costs in the Crops industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Crops industry, but Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to focus more on services in the Crops industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Crops industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Crops industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops industry.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can develop new processes and procedures in Crops 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Crops industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Crops 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.
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. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech are -
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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Crops industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Crops 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. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Crops industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops industry and other sectors.
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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is facing in Crops sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Crops industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Crops industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.