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 – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Crops industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is one of the leading players in the Crops 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.
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.
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 -
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Skills based hiring in Crops industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to provide better information regarding Crops products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech is just above the Crops 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 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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Crops sector.
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.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Crops sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
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.
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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech to increase its market reach. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 -
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. Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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.
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.
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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech in Crops industry. The Crops industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech
– 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech 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 Tianshui Zhongxing Bio-tech prominent markets.
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.
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.
