CITIC Telecom Int (1883) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Communications Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for CITIC Telecom Int (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , CITIC Telecom Int is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CITIC Telecom Int
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that CITIC Telecom Int can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the CITIC Telecom Int, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of CITIC Telecom Int
2. Improving business portfolio management of CITIC Telecom Int
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Communications Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of CITIC Telecom Int
Strengths of CITIC Telecom Int | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of CITIC Telecom Int are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of CITIC Telecom Int in Communications Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Communications Services
– CITIC Telecom Int is one of the leading players in the Communications Services industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Communications Services industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled CITIC Telecom Int in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of CITIC Telecom Int in the Services sector have low bargaining power. CITIC Telecom Int has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps CITIC Telecom Int to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Communications Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For CITIC Telecom Int digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– CITIC Telecom Int has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – CITIC Telecom Int staying ahead in the Communications Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Communications Services 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.
Analytics focus
– CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Communications Services industry
– CITIC Telecom Int 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
- CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at CITIC Telecom Int emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– CITIC Telecom Int has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. CITIC Telecom Int has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communications Services industry
– CITIC Telecom Int has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled CITIC Telecom Int to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communications Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped CITIC Telecom Int to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of CITIC Telecom Int | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CITIC Telecom Int are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of CITIC Telecom Int is just above the Communications Services 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 CITIC Telecom Int supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, CITIC Telecom Int is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left CITIC Telecom Int vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of CITIC Telecom Int, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Communications Services 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, CITIC Telecom Int is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help CITIC Telecom Int to provide better information regarding Communications Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, CITIC Telecom Int has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Communications Services industry over the last five years. CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CITIC Telecom Int is one of the leading players in the Communications Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Communications Services industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services industry using digital technology.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at CITIC Telecom Int, in the dynamic environment of Communications Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. CITIC Telecom Int has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Communications Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at CITIC Telecom Int 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Communications Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, CITIC Telecom Int needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
CITIC Telecom Int Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of CITIC Telecom Int are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– CITIC Telecom Int has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Communications Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled CITIC Telecom Int to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help CITIC Telecom Int to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Loyalty marketing
– CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, CITIC Telecom Int is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CITIC Telecom Int can utilize new technology in the field of Communications Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, CITIC Telecom Int 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects CITIC Telecom Int can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– CITIC Telecom Int can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Communications Services 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communications Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. CITIC Telecom Int can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services 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, CITIC Telecom Int can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that CITIC Telecom Int operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communications Services sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of CITIC Telecom Int has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Communications Services industry. This can help CITIC Telecom Int to build a more holistic ecosystem for CITIC Telecom Int products in the Communications Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats CITIC Telecom Int External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of CITIC Telecom Int are -
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 CITIC Telecom Int in the Communications Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, CITIC Telecom Int may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communications Services sector.
Environmental challenges
– CITIC Telecom Int 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. CITIC Telecom Int can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communications Services industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– CITIC Telecom Int has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communications Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, CITIC Telecom Int needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communications Services sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Regulatory challenges
– CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services industry regulations.
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 CITIC Telecom Int.
Consumer confidence and its impact on CITIC Telecom Int 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 Communications Services industry and other sectors.
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. CITIC Telecom Int needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communications Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that CITIC Telecom Int is facing in Communications Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Communications Services industry are lowering. It can presents CITIC Telecom Int with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Communications Services sector.
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 CITIC Telecom Int business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CITIC Telecom Int Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int 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 CITIC Telecom Int needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.