SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Taiyuan Lionhead Cement (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Taiyuan Lionhead Cement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement
2. Improving business portfolio management of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Construction - Raw Materials sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement
Strengths of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement are -
Strong track record of project management in the Construction - Raw Materials industry
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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
- Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Taiyuan Lionhead Cement emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Construction - Raw Materials industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Construction - Raw Materials
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is one of the leading players in the Construction - Raw Materials industry in China. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Construction - Raw Materials industry in China but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in Construction - Raw Materials industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Taiyuan Lionhead Cement staying ahead in the Construction - Raw Materials industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is present in almost all the verticals within the Construction - Raw Materials industry. This has provided Taiyuan Lionhead Cement a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Construction - Raw Materials 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.
High brand equity
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Taiyuan Lionhead Cement to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Construction - Raw Materials industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Construction - Raw Materials industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Construction - Raw Materials industry, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Skills based hiring in Construction - Raw Materials industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Taiyuan Lionhead Cement, in the dynamic environment of Construction - Raw Materials industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has some of the most successful models in the Construction - Raw Materials industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Taiyuan Lionhead Cement to provide better information regarding Construction - Raw Materials products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ less understanding of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Construction - Raw Materials industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is planning to shift buying processes online.
Taiyuan Lionhead Cement Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement are -
Buying journey improvements
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Construction - Raw Materials 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.
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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Construction - Raw Materials industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in the Construction - Raw Materials industry. Now Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Construction - Raw Materials 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Taiyuan Lionhead Cement to increase its market reach. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Taiyuan Lionhead Cement operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Construction - Raw Materials sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Construction - Raw Materials industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Construction - Raw Materials sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Taiyuan Lionhead Cement to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Taiyuan Lionhead Cement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can utilize new technology in the field of Construction - Raw Materials industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can develop new processes and procedures in Construction - Raw Materials 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Construction - Raw Materials industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Threats Taiyuan Lionhead Cement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Construction - Raw Materials industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Construction - Raw Materials industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in Construction - Raw Materials industry. The Construction - Raw Materials 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.
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.
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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Taiyuan Lionhead Cement is facing in Construction - Raw Materials sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Taiyuan Lionhead Cement has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Construction - Raw Materials industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Construction - Raw Materials 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 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. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Construction - Raw Materials industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement in the Construction - Raw Materials sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Taiyuan Lionhead Cement may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Construction - Raw Materials sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Construction - Raw Materials industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Taiyuan Lionhead Cement can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement
– 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taiyuan Lionhead Cement Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement 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 Taiyuan Lionhead Cement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
