Cre8 Direct Ningbo (300703) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cre8 Direct Ningbo (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cre8 Direct Ningbo is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cre8 Direct Ningbo

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cre8 Direct Ningbo can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cre8 Direct Ningbo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cre8 Direct Ningbo
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cre8 Direct Ningbo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Office Supplies sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cre8 Direct Ningbo

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Strengths of Cre8 Direct Ningbo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cre8 Direct Ningbo are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

Training and development

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Cre8 Direct Ningbo staying ahead in the Office Supplies industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Office Supplies industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Cre8 Direct Ningbo have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management in the Office Supplies industry

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cre8 Direct Ningbo emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Cre8 Direct Ningbo comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Office Supplies 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.

Analytics focus

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Office Supplies 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

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo in Office Supplies industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Diverse revenue streams

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo is present in almost all the verticals within the Office Supplies industry. This has provided Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

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Weaknesses of Cre8 Direct Ningbo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Cre8 Direct Ningbo are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Office Supplies industry, Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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, Cre8 Direct Ningbo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Cre8 Direct Ningbo to provide better information regarding Office Supplies products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Office Supplies industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Office Supplies industry.

Skills based hiring in Office Supplies industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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, Cre8 Direct Ningbo needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Cre8 Direct Ningbo products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cre8 Direct Ningbo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Cre8 Direct Ningbo has some of the most successful models in the Office Supplies industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cre8 Direct Ningbo should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cre8 Direct Ningbo has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Office Supplies industry over the last five years. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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, Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Office Supplies industry using digital technology.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Cre8 Direct Ningbo has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Office Supplies industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Cre8 Direct Ningbo has high operating costs in the Office Supplies industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cre8 Direct Ningbo lucrative customers.

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Cre8 Direct Ningbo Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Cre8 Direct Ningbo are -

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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cre8 Direct Ningbo in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Office Supplies industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Office Supplies sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Cre8 Direct Ningbo to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cre8 Direct Ningbo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cre8 Direct Ningbo can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cre8 Direct Ningbo operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Office Supplies sector.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Office Supplies industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cre8 Direct Ningbo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cre8 Direct Ningbo to increase its market reach. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Office Supplies 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cre8 Direct Ningbo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Office Supplies industry. This can help Cre8 Direct Ningbo to build a more holistic ecosystem for Cre8 Direct Ningbo products in the Office Supplies industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Office Supplies industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cre8 Direct Ningbo in the Office Supplies industry. Now Cre8 Direct Ningbo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cre8 Direct Ningbo can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Office Supplies industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

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Threats Cre8 Direct Ningbo External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Cre8 Direct Ningbo are -

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Cre8 Direct Ningbo is facing in Office Supplies sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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. Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Office Supplies industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cre8 Direct Ningbo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Office Supplies sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo prominent markets.

Increasing wage structure of Cre8 Direct Ningbo

– 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Cre8 Direct Ningbo may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Office Supplies sector.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Office Supplies industry are lowering. It can presents Cre8 Direct Ningbo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Office Supplies sector.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo.

Regulatory challenges

– Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Office Supplies industry regulations.

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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo in the Office Supplies sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cre8 Direct Ningbo Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo 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 Cre8 Direct Ningbo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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