XiAn Global Printing (2799) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for XiAn Global Printing (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , XiAn Global Printing is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of XiAn Global Printing

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that XiAn Global Printing can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the XiAn Global Printing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which XiAn Global Printing 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of XiAn Global Printing can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of XiAn Global Printing
2. Improving business portfolio management of XiAn Global Printing
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Printing Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of XiAn Global Printing

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Strengths of XiAn Global Printing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of XiAn Global Printing are -

Diverse revenue streams

– XiAn Global Printing is present in almost all the verticals within the Printing Services industry. This has provided XiAn Global Printing 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.

High brand equity

– XiAn Global Printing has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled XiAn Global Printing to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Digital Transformation in Printing Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For XiAn Global Printing digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. XiAn Global Printing 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.

Analytics focus

– XiAn Global Printing 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 Printing Services 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of XiAn Global Printing in Printing Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Printing Services

– XiAn Global Printing is one of the leading players in the Printing Services industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Printing Services industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled XiAn Global Printing in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Organizational Resilience of XiAn Global Printing

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing XiAn Global Printing does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– XiAn Global Printing has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – XiAn Global Printing staying ahead in the Printing Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Innovation driven organization

– XiAn Global Printing is one of the most innovative firm in Printing Services sector.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that XiAn Global Printing 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of XiAn Global Printing comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Printing Services 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing Services industry

– XiAn Global Printing has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled XiAn Global Printing to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Printing Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped XiAn Global Printing to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of XiAn Global Printing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of XiAn Global Printing are -

Lack of clear differentiation of XiAn Global Printing products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, XiAn Global Printing needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, XiAn Global Printing is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help XiAn Global Printing to provide better information regarding Printing Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Skills based hiring in Printing Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at XiAn Global Printing 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of China, XiAn Global Printing needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Employees’ less understanding of XiAn Global Printing strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of XiAn Global Printing 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, XiAn Global Printing 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, XiAn Global Printing has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Printing Services industry over the last five years. XiAn Global Printing 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that XiAn Global Printing needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Printing Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at XiAn Global Printing can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as XiAn Global Printing is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of XiAn Global Printing is just above the Printing Services 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.

Need for greater diversity

– XiAn Global Printing has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Products dominated business model

– Even though XiAn Global Printing has some of the most successful models in the Printing Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. XiAn Global Printing should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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XiAn Global Printing Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of XiAn Global Printing are -

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. XiAn Global Printing can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Printing Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. XiAn Global Printing 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. XiAn Global Printing 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.

Loyalty marketing

– XiAn Global Printing 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at XiAn Global Printing 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 Printing Services industry.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, XiAn Global Printing can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that XiAn Global Printing operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Printing Services sector.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects XiAn Global Printing can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help XiAn Global Printing to increase its market reach. XiAn Global Printing 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for XiAn Global Printing in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Manufacturing automation

– XiAn Global Printing can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Printing Services 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Leveraging digital technologies

– XiAn Global Printing 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– XiAn Global Printing has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Printing Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled XiAn Global Printing to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help XiAn Global Printing to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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Threats XiAn Global Printing External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of XiAn Global Printing are -

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 XiAn Global Printing.

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. XiAn Global Printing needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that XiAn Global Printing is facing in Printing Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing prominent markets.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, XiAn Global Printing may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Printing Services sector.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Printing Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. XiAn Global Printing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– XiAn Global Printing high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– XiAn Global Printing 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 Printing Services industry.

Increasing wage structure of XiAn Global Printing

– 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 XiAn Global Printing.

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 XiAn Global Printing in the Printing Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– XiAn Global Printing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Printing Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, XiAn Global Printing needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Printing Services 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.

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 XiAn Global Printing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of XiAn Global Printing Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing 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 XiAn Global Printing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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