GCL-Poly Energy (3800) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Semiconductors
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for GCL-Poly Energy (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , GCL-Poly Energy is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that GCL-Poly Energy can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the GCL-Poly Energy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of GCL-Poly Energy
2. Improving business portfolio management of GCL-Poly Energy
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Semiconductors sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of GCL-Poly Energy
Strengths of GCL-Poly Energy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of GCL-Poly Energy are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– GCL-Poly Energy is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– GCL-Poly Energy has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Semiconductors industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of GCL-Poly Energy have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the GCL-Poly Energy 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
– GCL-Poly Energy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled GCL-Poly Energy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Semiconductors industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For GCL-Poly Energy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. GCL-Poly Energy has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of GCL-Poly Energy in Semiconductors industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Semiconductors industry
– GCL-Poly Energy has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled GCL-Poly Energy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Semiconductors industry. The sustainable margins have also helped GCL-Poly Energy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Semiconductors
– GCL-Poly Energy is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Semiconductors industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled GCL-Poly Energy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of GCL-Poly Energy in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. GCL-Poly Energy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps GCL-Poly Energy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management in the Semiconductors industry
– GCL-Poly Energy 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
- GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at GCL-Poly Energy emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of GCL-Poly Energy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GCL-Poly Energy are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of GCL-Poly Energy, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Semiconductors 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of GCL-Poly Energy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, GCL-Poly Energy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Semiconductors industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at GCL-Poly Energy has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As GCL-Poly Energy is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Semiconductors industry in last five years.
High dependence on GCL-Poly Energy ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of GCL-Poly Energy still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Semiconductors industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though GCL-Poly Energy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, GCL-Poly Energy has high operating costs in the Semiconductors industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract GCL-Poly Energy lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, GCL-Poly Energy has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Semiconductors industry over the last five years. GCL-Poly Energy 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Semiconductors industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, GCL-Poly Energy 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 Semiconductors industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of GCL-Poly Energy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Semiconductors industry, but GCL-Poly Energy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help GCL-Poly Energy to focus more on services in the Semiconductors industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at GCL-Poly Energy, in the dynamic environment of Semiconductors industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. GCL-Poly Energy has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
GCL-Poly Energy Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of GCL-Poly Energy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help GCL-Poly Energy to increase its market reach. GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of GCL-Poly Energy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Semiconductors industry. This can help GCL-Poly Energy to build a more holistic ecosystem for GCL-Poly Energy products in the Semiconductors industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at GCL-Poly Energy 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 Semiconductors industry.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– GCL-Poly Energy 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, GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– GCL-Poly Energy 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, GCL-Poly Energy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GCL-Poly Energy can utilize new technology in the field of Semiconductors 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, GCL-Poly Energy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that GCL-Poly Energy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Semiconductors sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– GCL-Poly Energy can develop new processes and procedures in Semiconductors 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 GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for GCL-Poly Energy in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Semiconductors industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats GCL-Poly Energy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of GCL-Poly Energy are -
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. GCL-Poly Energy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Semiconductors industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– GCL-Poly Energy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Semiconductors industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, GCL-Poly Energy needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Semiconductors 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.
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. GCL-Poly Energy 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Semiconductors industry are lowering. It can presents GCL-Poly Energy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Semiconductors sector.
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.
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 GCL-Poly Energy business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– GCL-Poly Energy 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 Semiconductors industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. GCL-Poly Energy can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 GCL-Poly Energy in the Semiconductors sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– GCL-Poly Energy 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 Semiconductors industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for GCL-Poly Energy in Semiconductors industry. The Semiconductors 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 GCL-Poly Energy is facing in Semiconductors sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 GCL-Poly Energy Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy 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 GCL-Poly Energy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.