Great Wall Acg A (835) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Iron & Steel
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Great Wall Acg A (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Great Wall Acg A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices,
increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Great Wall Acg A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Great Wall Acg A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Great Wall Acg A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Great Wall Acg A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Iron & Steel sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Great Wall Acg A
Strengths of Great Wall Acg A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Great Wall Acg A are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Great Wall Acg A comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Iron & Steel 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 Iron & Steel industry
– Great Wall Acg A has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Great Wall Acg A to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Iron & Steel industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Great Wall Acg A to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Great Wall Acg A 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Great Wall Acg A 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Great Wall Acg A is one of the most innovative firm in Iron & Steel sector.
Analytics focus
– Great Wall Acg A 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 Iron & Steel 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Great Wall Acg A 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.
Learning organization
- Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Great Wall Acg A emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Great Wall Acg A has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Great Wall Acg A to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Great Wall Acg A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Great Wall Acg A 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.
Organizational Resilience of Great Wall Acg A
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Great Wall Acg A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Great Wall Acg A in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Great Wall Acg A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Great Wall Acg A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Great Wall Acg A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Great Wall Acg A are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Great Wall Acg A is just above the Iron & Steel 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Great Wall Acg A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Iron & Steel industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Great Wall Acg A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Great Wall Acg A is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Great Wall Acg A is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Great Wall Acg A to provide better information regarding Iron & Steel products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in Iron & Steel industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Great Wall Acg A 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Great Wall Acg A 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Great Wall Acg A has high operating costs in the Iron & Steel industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Great Wall Acg A lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Great Wall Acg A, in the dynamic environment of Iron & Steel industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Great Wall Acg A has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Great Wall Acg A products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Great Wall Acg A needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Great Wall Acg A is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Iron & Steel industry, but Great Wall Acg A needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Great Wall Acg A to focus more on services in the Iron & Steel industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Iron & Steel industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Great Wall Acg A 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 Iron & Steel industry.
Employees’ less understanding of Great Wall Acg A strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Great Wall Acg A 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.
Great Wall Acg A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Great Wall Acg A are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Great Wall Acg A is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Great Wall Acg A can utilize new technology in the field of Iron & Steel industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Great Wall Acg A 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Great Wall Acg A has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Iron & Steel industry. This can help Great Wall Acg A to build a more holistic ecosystem for Great Wall Acg A products in the Iron & Steel industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Great Wall Acg A can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Iron & Steel 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Great Wall Acg A 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 Iron & Steel industry.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Great Wall Acg A has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Iron & Steel sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Great Wall Acg A to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Great Wall Acg A to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Iron & Steel industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Great Wall Acg A can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Great Wall Acg A 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Iron & Steel industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Great Wall Acg A in the Iron & Steel industry. Now Great Wall Acg A can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Iron & Steel industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Great Wall Acg A 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. Great Wall Acg A 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. Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Great Wall Acg A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Great Wall Acg A are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Great Wall Acg A is facing in Iron & Steel sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Great Wall Acg A needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Iron & Steel industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Great Wall Acg A 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 Iron & Steel industry.
Environmental challenges
– Great Wall Acg A 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. Great Wall Acg A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Iron & Steel industry.
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 Great Wall Acg A in the Iron & Steel sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Great Wall Acg A in Iron & Steel industry. The Iron & Steel 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Great Wall Acg A has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Iron & Steel industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Great Wall Acg A needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Iron & Steel 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Great Wall Acg A 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 Iron & Steel industry regulations.
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 Great Wall Acg A business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Great Wall Acg A 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A prominent markets.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Great Wall Acg A Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A 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 Great Wall Acg A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
