Qinhuangdao Port (3369) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Qinhuangdao Port (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Qinhuangdao Port is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Qinhuangdao Port

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

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Strengths of Qinhuangdao Port | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Qinhuangdao Port are -

Innovation driven organization

– Qinhuangdao Port is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Transportation sector.

Diverse revenue streams

– Qinhuangdao Port is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Transportation industry. This has provided Qinhuangdao Port 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

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

Training and development

– Qinhuangdao Port has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Transportation industry

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Transportation industry

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

Digital Transformation in Misc. Transportation industry

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

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Qinhuangdao Port in Misc. Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Qinhuangdao Port in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Qinhuangdao Port has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Qinhuangdao Port to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Qinhuangdao Port 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 lead change in Misc. Transportation

– Qinhuangdao Port is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Transportation industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Qinhuangdao Port in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Qinhuangdao Port comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Transportation 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.

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Weaknesses of Qinhuangdao Port | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Qinhuangdao Port are -

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Qinhuangdao Port is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Transportation industry, but Qinhuangdao Port needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Qinhuangdao Port to focus more on services in the Misc. Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Qinhuangdao Port is just above the Misc. Transportation 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.

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 Qinhuangdao Port supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Qinhuangdao Port is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Qinhuangdao Port vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Qinhuangdao Port has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Aligning sales with marketing

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

Products dominated business model

– Even though Qinhuangdao Port has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Transportation industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Qinhuangdao Port 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, Qinhuangdao Port is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Qinhuangdao Port to provide better information regarding Misc. Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Qinhuangdao Port, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Transportation industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Qinhuangdao Port has high operating costs in the Misc. Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Qinhuangdao Port lucrative customers.

Skills based hiring in Misc. Transportation industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Qinhuangdao Port 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, Qinhuangdao Port 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.

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Qinhuangdao Port Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Qinhuangdao Port are -

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Qinhuangdao Port can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Qinhuangdao Port to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Qinhuangdao Port 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Qinhuangdao Port 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Qinhuangdao Port 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. Qinhuangdao Port 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. Qinhuangdao Port can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Developing new processes and practices

– Qinhuangdao Port can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Transportation 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Qinhuangdao Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry.

Increase in government spending

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

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 Qinhuangdao Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Creating value in data economy

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

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Threats Qinhuangdao Port External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Qinhuangdao Port are -

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 wage structure of Qinhuangdao Port

– 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 Qinhuangdao Port.

Learning curve for new practices

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

Consumer confidence and its impact on Qinhuangdao Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry and other sectors.

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 Qinhuangdao Port in the Misc. Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Qinhuangdao Port 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Qinhuangdao Port is facing in Misc. Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Qinhuangdao Port 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.

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 Qinhuangdao Port.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Qinhuangdao Port 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 Misc. Transportation industry.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Easy access to finance

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

Environmental challenges

– Qinhuangdao Port 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. Qinhuangdao Port can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Qinhuangdao Port Template, Example

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

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