SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Zhejiang Goldensea Environment (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zhejiang Goldensea Environment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Misc. Capital Goods sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
Strengths of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Misc. Capital Goods
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Zhejiang Goldensea Environment in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Capital Goods industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Zhejiang Goldensea Environment digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Learning organization
- Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Zhejiang Goldensea Environment emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Analytics focus
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Organizational Resilience of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Zhejiang Goldensea Environment does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Zhejiang Goldensea Environment staying ahead in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This has provided Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to provide better information regarding Misc. Capital Goods products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on Zhejiang Goldensea Environment ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Capital Goods industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, but Zhejiang Goldensea Environment needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to focus more on services in the Misc. Capital Goods industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Capital Goods industry over the last five years. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Employees’ less understanding of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Zhejiang Goldensea Environment Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Capital Goods industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Capital Goods sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Zhejiang Goldensea Environment in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Capital Goods industry. This can help Zhejiang Goldensea Environment to build a more holistic ecosystem for Zhejiang Goldensea Environment products in the Misc. Capital Goods industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Manufacturing automation
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Zhejiang Goldensea Environment operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Threats Zhejiang Goldensea Environment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry and other sectors.
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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment in the Misc. Capital Goods 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment in Misc. Capital Goods industry. The Misc. Capital Goods 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.
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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment.
Increasing wage structure of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment
– 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment.
Environmental challenges
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment prominent markets.
Regulatory challenges
– Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Capital Goods industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zhejiang Goldensea Environment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Zhejiang Goldensea Environment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment 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 Zhejiang Goldensea Environment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.