SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Shenzhen Liande Automatic (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Shenzhen Liande Automatic is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Shenzhen Liande Automatic can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shenzhen Liande Automatic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Computer Peripherals sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
Strengths of Shenzhen Liande Automatic | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shenzhen Liande Automatic are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Peripherals industry
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shenzhen Liande Automatic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shenzhen Liande Automatic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Shenzhen Liande Automatic emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Shenzhen Liande Automatic does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Analytics focus
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Computer Peripherals 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.
Ability to lead change in Computer Peripherals
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Peripherals industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Shenzhen Liande Automatic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Peripherals industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Shenzhen Liande Automatic have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shenzhen Liande Automatic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shenzhen Liande Automatic in Computer Peripherals industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Peripherals sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Shenzhen Liande Automatic comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Weaknesses of Shenzhen Liande Automatic | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Shenzhen Liande Automatic are -
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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Shenzhen Liande Automatic is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shenzhen Liande Automatic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Shenzhen Liande Automatic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Shenzhen Liande Automatic to provide better information regarding Computer Peripherals products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Shenzhen Liande Automatic, in the dynamic environment of Computer Peripherals industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shenzhen Liande Automatic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Computer Peripherals industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Shenzhen Liande Automatic is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Peripherals industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shenzhen Liande Automatic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Peripherals industry, but Shenzhen Liande Automatic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shenzhen Liande Automatic to focus more on services in the Computer Peripherals industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Shenzhen Liande Automatic has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Peripherals industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Shenzhen Liande Automatic needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Peripherals industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Shenzhen Liande Automatic can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shenzhen Liande Automatic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ less understanding of Shenzhen Liande Automatic strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Shenzhen Liande Automatic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Shenzhen Liande Automatic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Shenzhen Liande Automatic Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Shenzhen Liande Automatic are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Peripherals sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Shenzhen Liande Automatic to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shenzhen Liande Automatic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shenzhen Liande Automatic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shenzhen Liande Automatic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Peripherals sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shenzhen Liande Automatic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shenzhen Liande Automatic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Peripherals industry. This can help Shenzhen Liande Automatic to build a more holistic ecosystem for Shenzhen Liande Automatic products in the Computer Peripherals industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Peripherals industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Shenzhen Liande Automatic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Peripherals 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Peripherals industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Shenzhen Liande Automatic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Peripherals industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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. Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Threats Shenzhen Liande Automatic External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Shenzhen Liande Automatic are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Environmental challenges
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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. Shenzhen Liande Automatic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry.
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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic in the Computer Peripherals sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Shenzhen Liande Automatic
– 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic.
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. Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Computer Peripherals industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Peripherals industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shenzhen Liande Automatic is facing in Computer Peripherals sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Shenzhen Liande Automatic.
Regulatory challenges
– Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Peripherals industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Peripherals sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shenzhen Liande Automatic Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic 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 Shenzhen Liande Automatic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.