SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
2. Improving business portfolio management of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Hotels & Motels sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
Strengths of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism are -
Organizational Resilience of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is one of the most innovative firm in Hotels & Motels sector.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in Hotels & Motels industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Hotels & Motels industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is present in almost all the verticals within the Hotels & Motels industry. This has provided Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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.
Analytics focus
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Hotels & Motels 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Hotels & Motels 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism staying ahead in the Hotels & Motels industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Hotels & Motels
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Hotels & Motels industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is just above the Hotels & Motels 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Hotels & Motels industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Hotels & Motels industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Hotels & Motels industry, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism to provide better information regarding Hotels & Motels products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ less understanding of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Hotels & Motels industry, but Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism to focus more on services in the Hotels & Motels industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Hotels & Motels industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Hotels & Motels industry using digital technology.
Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Hotels & Motels industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Hotels & Motels industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Hotels & Motels 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can develop new processes and procedures in Hotels & Motels 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Hotels & Motels sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Hotels & Motels industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in the Hotels & Motels industry. Now Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Hotels & Motels 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can utilize new technology in the field of Hotels & Motels industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Hotels & Motels sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Hotels & Motels industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism are -
Regulatory challenges
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Hotels & Motels industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism is facing in Hotels & Motels sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in the Hotels & Motels sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism in Hotels & Motels industry. The Hotels & Motels 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Hotels & Motels industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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
– Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Hotels & Motels industry.
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. Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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.
Increasing wage structure of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism
– 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Hotels & Motels industry are lowering. It can presents Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Hotels & Motels sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Hotels & Motels 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism 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 Anhui Jiuhuashan Tourism needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.