Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Canvest Environmental Protection is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Canvest Environmental Protection
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Canvest Environmental Protection can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Canvest Environmental Protection, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Canvest Environmental Protection
2. Improving business portfolio management of Canvest Environmental Protection
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Canvest Environmental Protection
Strengths of Canvest Environmental Protection | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Canvest Environmental Protection are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Canvest Environmental Protection is one of the most innovative firm in Electric Utilities sector.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Canvest Environmental Protection in Electric Utilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Canvest Environmental Protection has one of the best training and development program in Utilities 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 Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Analytics focus
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Electric Utilities industry
– Canvest Environmental Protection has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Canvest Environmental Protection to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Electric Utilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Canvest Environmental Protection to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Canvest Environmental Protection
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Canvest Environmental Protection does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Canvest Environmental Protection has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electric Utilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Canvest Environmental Protection have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Canvest Environmental Protection is present in almost all the verticals within the Electric Utilities industry. This has provided Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Learning organization
- Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Canvest Environmental Protection emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Electric Utilities
– Canvest Environmental Protection is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electric Utilities industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Canvest Environmental Protection in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Canvest Environmental Protection | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Canvest Environmental Protection are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Canvest Environmental Protection is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Canvest Environmental Protection to provide better information regarding Electric Utilities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Canvest Environmental Protection needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Canvest Environmental Protection can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Canvest Environmental Protection is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Canvest Environmental Protection supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Canvest Environmental Protection is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Canvest Environmental Protection vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Skills based hiring in Electric Utilities industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Canvest Environmental Protection has some of the most successful models in the Electric Utilities industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Canvest Environmental Protection should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Canvest Environmental Protection products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Canvest Environmental Protection needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Electric Utilities industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Canvest Environmental Protection has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry over the last five years. Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Canvest Environmental Protection has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Electric Utilities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Canvest Environmental Protection Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Canvest Environmental Protection are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Electric Utilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Canvest Environmental Protection 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. Canvest Environmental Protection 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. Canvest Environmental Protection can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Canvest Environmental Protection can develop new processes and procedures in Electric Utilities 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Canvest Environmental Protection can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electric Utilities 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Canvest Environmental Protection can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Canvest Environmental Protection operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electric Utilities sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Canvest Environmental Protection can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Canvest Environmental Protection in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Electric Utilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Electric Utilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Canvest Environmental Protection can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Canvest Environmental Protection is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Canvest Environmental Protection can utilize new technology in the field of Electric Utilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Canvest Environmental Protection has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Electric Utilities industry. This can help Canvest Environmental Protection to build a more holistic ecosystem for Canvest Environmental Protection products in the Electric Utilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Canvest Environmental Protection External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Canvest Environmental Protection may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Electric Utilities sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection prominent markets.
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. Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Canvest Environmental Protection is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Canvest Environmental Protection has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Electric Utilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Canvest Environmental Protection needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Electric Utilities 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Electric Utilities industry.
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 Canvest Environmental Protection business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Electric Utilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Canvest Environmental Protection 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
– Canvest Environmental Protection 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. Canvest Environmental Protection can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Canvest Environmental Protection Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection 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 Canvest Environmental Protection needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
