Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media (811) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media (Hong Kong)

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

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media

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

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Strengths of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media are -

Learning organization

- Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media in Printing & Publishing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Strong track record of project management in the Printing & Publishing industry

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is one of the leading players in the Printing & Publishing industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High brand equity

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Printing & Publishing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Printing & Publishing 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.

Digital Transformation in Printing & Publishing industry

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

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Analytics focus

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry. The technology infrastructure of Hong Kong 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is one of the most innovative firm in Printing & Publishing sector.

Organizational Resilience of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

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Weaknesses of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media are -

High bargaining power of channel partners in Printing & Publishing industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry.

Lack of clear differentiation of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is just above the Printing & Publishing 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Printing & Publishing industry over the last five years. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

Products dominated business model

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

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has high operating costs in the Printing & Publishing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media lucrative customers.

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Need for greater diversity

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry using digital technology.

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Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media are -

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can develop new processes and procedures in Printing & Publishing 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Printing & Publishing industry. This can help Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to build a more holistic ecosystem for Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media products in the Printing & Publishing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Printing & Publishing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can utilize new technology in the field of Printing & Publishing 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to increase its market reach. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing & Publishing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Printing & Publishing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

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Threats Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media are -

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry.

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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Printing & Publishing industry are lowering. It can presents Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Printing & Publishing sector.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Printing & Publishing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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

– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Printing & Publishing industry.

Increasing wage structure of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media

– 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media.

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. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.

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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing & Publishing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry and other sectors.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is facing in Printing & Publishing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media Template, Example

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

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