Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby (2762) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Apparel)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Retail (Apparel) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby
Strengths of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Apparel) industry
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Apparel) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Apparel) industry
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Apparel) sector.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby in Retail (Apparel) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Retail (Apparel) 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 recruit top talent
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is one of the leading players in the Retail (Apparel) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Apparel) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Apparel)
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is one of the leading players in the Retail (Apparel) industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Apparel) industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Apparel) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Apparel) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Apparel) 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Apparel) industry, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Apparel) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Retail (Apparel) industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Apparel) industry over the last five years. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Retail (Apparel) industry using digital technology.
High dependence on Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Apparel) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Apparel) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Apparel) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Apparel) sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Apparel) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Manufacturing automation
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Apparel) 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Apparel) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Retail (Apparel) industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Apparel) 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.
Threats Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Apparel) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Apparel) industry are lowering. It can presents Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Apparel) sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Apparel) 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
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. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Apparel) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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. Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Apparel) industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby is facing in Retail (Apparel) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby
– 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Retail (Apparel) industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Apparel) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Apparel) 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby 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 Jinfa Labi Maternity & Baby needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
