China Minsheng Financial Holding (245) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Advertising
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for China Minsheng Financial Holding (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , China Minsheng Financial Holding is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of China Minsheng Financial Holding
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that China Minsheng Financial Holding can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the China Minsheng Financial Holding, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of China Minsheng Financial Holding
2. Improving business portfolio management of China Minsheng Financial Holding
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Advertising sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of China Minsheng Financial Holding
Strengths of China Minsheng Financial Holding | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of China Minsheng Financial Holding are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Innovation driven organization
– China Minsheng Financial Holding is one of the most innovative firm in Advertising sector.
Digital Transformation in Advertising industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For China Minsheng Financial Holding digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Learning organization
- China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at China Minsheng Financial Holding emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Advertising industry
– China Minsheng Financial Holding has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled China Minsheng Financial Holding to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Advertising industry. The sustainable margins have also helped China Minsheng Financial Holding to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of China Minsheng Financial Holding in the Services sector have low bargaining power. China Minsheng Financial Holding has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps China Minsheng Financial Holding to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– China Minsheng Financial Holding is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Analytics focus
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising 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.
Ability to lead change in Advertising
– China Minsheng Financial Holding is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Advertising industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled China Minsheng Financial Holding in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– China Minsheng Financial Holding is present in almost all the verticals within the Advertising industry. This has provided China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Weaknesses of China Minsheng Financial Holding | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of China Minsheng Financial Holding are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of China Minsheng Financial Holding, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Advertising 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.
High dependence on China Minsheng Financial Holding ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of China Minsheng Financial Holding still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Advertising industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though China Minsheng Financial Holding has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Advertising industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at China Minsheng Financial Holding can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as China Minsheng Financial Holding is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, China Minsheng Financial Holding has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising industry using digital technology.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at China Minsheng Financial Holding, in the dynamic environment of Advertising industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. China Minsheng Financial Holding has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, China Minsheng Financial Holding is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help China Minsheng Financial Holding to provide better information regarding Advertising products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ less understanding of China Minsheng Financial Holding strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of China Minsheng Financial Holding products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Advertising industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of China Minsheng Financial Holding is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Advertising industry, but China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help China Minsheng Financial Holding to focus more on services in the Advertising industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
China Minsheng Financial Holding Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of China Minsheng Financial Holding are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– China Minsheng Financial Holding has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Advertising sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled China Minsheng Financial Holding to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help China Minsheng Financial Holding to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for China Minsheng Financial Holding in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Advertising industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects China Minsheng Financial Holding can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. China Minsheng Financial Holding can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Buying journey improvements
– China Minsheng Financial Holding can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Advertising 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, China Minsheng Financial Holding can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that China Minsheng Financial Holding operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Advertising sector.
Loyalty marketing
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help China Minsheng Financial Holding to increase its market reach. China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Advertising industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. China Minsheng Financial Holding can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Advertising industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for China Minsheng Financial Holding in the Advertising industry. Now China Minsheng Financial Holding can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats China Minsheng Financial Holding External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of China Minsheng Financial Holding are -
Regulatory challenges
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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. China Minsheng Financial Holding can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Advertising industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that China Minsheng Financial Holding is facing in Advertising sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– China Minsheng Financial Holding has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Advertising industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Advertising 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.
Increasing wage structure of China Minsheng Financial Holding
– 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding.
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.
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. China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Advertising industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 Advertising 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. China Minsheng Financial Holding 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.
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 China Minsheng Financial Holding in the Advertising sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of China Minsheng Financial Holding Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding 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 China Minsheng Financial Holding needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
