Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media (811) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Printing & Publishing
Strategy / 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 – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
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.
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
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 -
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is one of the most innovative firm in Printing & Publishing sector.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing & Publishing industry
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Printing & Publishing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has one of the best training and development program in Services 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 Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to provide better information regarding Printing & Publishing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Printing & Publishing industry, but Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media to focus more on services in the Printing & Publishing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media is one of the leading players in the Printing & Publishing industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Printing & Publishing industry in last five years.
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.
High dependence on Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Printing & Publishing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Printing & Publishing industry, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Skills based hiring in Printing & Publishing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.
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 -
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Printing & Publishing industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media in the Printing & Publishing industry. Now Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Printing & Publishing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Printing & Publishing 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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Printing & Publishing sector.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Printing & Publishing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Printing & Publishing 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media in Printing & Publishing industry. The Printing & Publishing 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Printing & Publishing sector.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Xinhua Winshare Publishing Media 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 Printing & Publishing industry regulations.
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.
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.