SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Jianglong Shipbuilding (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Jianglong Shipbuilding is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jianglong Shipbuilding
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Jianglong Shipbuilding can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jianglong Shipbuilding, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Jianglong Shipbuilding
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jianglong Shipbuilding
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Recreational Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Jianglong Shipbuilding
Strengths of Jianglong Shipbuilding | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jianglong Shipbuilding are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jianglong Shipbuilding in Recreational Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jianglong Shipbuilding in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Jianglong Shipbuilding has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jianglong Shipbuilding to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 recruit top talent
– Jianglong Shipbuilding is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products 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.
Training and development
– Jianglong Shipbuilding has one of the best training and development program in Consumer Cyclical industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Recreational Products
– Jianglong Shipbuilding is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Products industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Jianglong Shipbuilding in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Recreational Products 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Jianglong Shipbuilding comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Recreational Products 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Jianglong Shipbuilding is present in almost all the verticals within the Recreational Products industry. This has provided Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Jianglong Shipbuilding is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Products sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Recreational Products industry
– Jianglong Shipbuilding is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Jianglong Shipbuilding has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jianglong Shipbuilding to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Jianglong Shipbuilding | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jianglong Shipbuilding are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Recreational Products industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Recreational Products industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Jianglong Shipbuilding needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Jianglong Shipbuilding, in the dynamic environment of Recreational Products industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jianglong Shipbuilding has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
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 Jianglong Shipbuilding supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Jianglong Shipbuilding is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jianglong Shipbuilding vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jianglong Shipbuilding has some of the most successful models in the Recreational Products industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Jianglong Shipbuilding should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Jianglong Shipbuilding needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Products industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Jianglong Shipbuilding can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jianglong Shipbuilding is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Products industry, Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Recreational Products industry in last five years.
High dependence on Jianglong Shipbuilding ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Jianglong Shipbuilding still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Recreational Products industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Jianglong Shipbuilding has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Jianglong Shipbuilding has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Recreational Products industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Jianglong Shipbuilding Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Jianglong Shipbuilding are -
Loyalty marketing
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Products industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Jianglong Shipbuilding can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jianglong Shipbuilding can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jianglong Shipbuilding operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Recreational Products sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jianglong Shipbuilding is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jianglong Shipbuilding can utilize new technology in the field of Recreational Products 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Recreational Products industry.
Manufacturing automation
– Jianglong Shipbuilding can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Recreational Products 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Jianglong Shipbuilding can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Products 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Recreational Products industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Jianglong Shipbuilding in the Recreational Products industry. Now Jianglong Shipbuilding can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jianglong Shipbuilding in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Recreational Products industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jianglong Shipbuilding has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Recreational Products industry. This can help Jianglong Shipbuilding to build a more holistic ecosystem for Jianglong Shipbuilding products in the Recreational Products industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Jianglong Shipbuilding can develop new processes and procedures in Recreational Products 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jianglong Shipbuilding to increase its market reach. Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
Threats Jianglong Shipbuilding External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Jianglong Shipbuilding are -
Environmental challenges
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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. Jianglong Shipbuilding can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Products industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jianglong Shipbuilding is facing in Recreational Products 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jianglong Shipbuilding has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Recreational Products industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jianglong Shipbuilding needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Recreational Products 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.
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 Jianglong Shipbuilding in the Recreational Products sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jianglong Shipbuilding in Recreational Products industry. The Recreational Products 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Recreational Products industry.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Recreational Products industry are lowering. It can presents Jianglong Shipbuilding with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Recreational Products sector.
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 Jianglong Shipbuilding business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Recreational Products industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jianglong Shipbuilding Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding 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 Jianglong Shipbuilding needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.