SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Guangzhou Amsky Tech (China)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Guangzhou Amsky Tech is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
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
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Guangzhou Amsky Tech
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Guangzhou Amsky Tech can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guangzhou Amsky Tech, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Guangzhou Amsky Tech
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guangzhou Amsky Tech
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Computer Peripherals sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Guangzhou Amsky Tech
Strengths of Guangzhou Amsky Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Guangzhou Amsky Tech are -
Analytics focus
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Computer Peripherals 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Computer Peripherals industry
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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
- Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Guangzhou Amsky Tech emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Peripherals industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Guangzhou Amsky Tech have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Peripherals industry
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Guangzhou Amsky Tech to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Guangzhou Amsky Tech to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Computer Peripherals industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Guangzhou Amsky Tech digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Guangzhou Amsky Tech in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Guangzhou Amsky Tech has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Guangzhou Amsky Tech to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Peripherals industry. This has provided Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Guangzhou Amsky Tech to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Guangzhou Amsky Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Guangzhou Amsky Tech are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guangzhou Amsky Tech has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Peripherals industry over the last five years. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Peripherals industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of China, Guangzhou Amsky Tech needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Guangzhou Amsky Tech has some of the most successful models in the Computer Peripherals industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Guangzhou Amsky Tech should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Computer Peripherals industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Guangzhou Amsky Tech is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Peripherals industry in last five years.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Guangzhou Amsky Tech is just above the Computer Peripherals 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Guangzhou Amsky Tech products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Guangzhou Amsky Tech needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Guangzhou Amsky Tech supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Guangzhou Amsky Tech is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Guangzhou Amsky Tech vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Guangzhou Amsky Tech has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Peripherals industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Guangzhou Amsky Tech Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Guangzhou Amsky Tech are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Guangzhou Amsky Tech in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Peripherals industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Peripherals industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Guangzhou Amsky Tech can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Guangzhou Amsky Tech can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Peripherals 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Peripherals industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Computer Peripherals industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Guangzhou Amsky Tech in the Computer Peripherals industry. Now Guangzhou Amsky Tech can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Guangzhou Amsky Tech is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Guangzhou Amsky Tech can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Peripherals industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Guangzhou Amsky Tech to increase its market reach. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
Threats Guangzhou Amsky Tech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Guangzhou Amsky Tech are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Guangzhou Amsky Tech in Computer Peripherals industry. The Computer Peripherals 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.
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. Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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.
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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech.
Environmental challenges
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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. Guangzhou Amsky Tech can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Peripherals industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Guangzhou Amsky Tech can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Guangzhou Amsky Tech is facing in Computer Peripherals sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Guangzhou Amsky Tech may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Peripherals sector.
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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech in the Computer Peripherals sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Guangzhou Amsky Tech Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech 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 Guangzhou Amsky Tech needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.