Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Misc. Fabricated Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials
Strengths of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Fabricated Products
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is one of the leading players in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials in Misc. Fabricated Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Analytics focus
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Fabricated 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.
Training and development
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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 recruit top talent
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is one of the leading players in the Misc. Fabricated 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Fabricated Products industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Fabricated 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Fabricated Products industry over the last five years. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials to provide better information regarding Misc. Fabricated Products products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Misc. Fabricated Products industry using digital technology.
High dependence on Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Fabricated Products industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry, but Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials to focus more on services in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is planning to shift buying processes online.
Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Fabricated Products industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Fabricated 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Fabricated Products industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials to increase its market reach. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Fabricated Products industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Fabricated 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Threats Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Fabricated Products industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials is facing in Misc. Fabricated Products sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials prominent markets.
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. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Fabricated Products industry are lowering. It can presents Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Fabricated Products sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Misc. Fabricated Products industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Fabricated Products industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials in Misc. Fabricated Products industry. The Misc. Fabricated 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.
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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials in the Misc. Fabricated Products sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials 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 Kunshan Kinglai Hygienic Materials needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.