SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cosmopolitan Intl (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cosmopolitan Intl is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cosmopolitan Intl
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cosmopolitan Intl can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cosmopolitan Intl, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cosmopolitan Intl
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cosmopolitan Intl
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Air Courier sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cosmopolitan Intl
Strengths of Cosmopolitan Intl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cosmopolitan Intl are -
Learning organization
- Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cosmopolitan Intl emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cosmopolitan Intl 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
High brand equity
– Cosmopolitan Intl has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cosmopolitan Intl to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Cosmopolitan Intl
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Cosmopolitan Intl does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Air Courier industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cosmopolitan Intl digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cosmopolitan Intl has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cosmopolitan Intl is present in almost all the verticals within the Air Courier industry. This has provided Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Cosmopolitan Intl comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Air Courier 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cosmopolitan Intl in Air Courier industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cosmopolitan Intl has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Cosmopolitan Intl staying ahead in the Air Courier industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Cosmopolitan Intl has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.
Weaknesses of Cosmopolitan Intl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cosmopolitan Intl are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Air Courier industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Air Courier industry.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cosmopolitan Intl has some of the most successful models in the Air Courier industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cosmopolitan Intl should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cosmopolitan Intl is one of the leading players in the Air Courier industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Air Courier industry in last five years.
Skills based hiring in Air Courier industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cosmopolitan Intl has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Air Courier industry over the last five years. Cosmopolitan Intl even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on Cosmopolitan Intl ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Cosmopolitan Intl still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Air Courier industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cosmopolitan Intl has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Air Courier industry, Cosmopolitan Intl needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cosmopolitan Intl is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Air Courier industry, but Cosmopolitan Intl needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cosmopolitan Intl to focus more on services in the Air Courier industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Cosmopolitan Intl, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Air Courier 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Cosmopolitan Intl, in the dynamic environment of Air Courier industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cosmopolitan Intl has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Cosmopolitan Intl Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Cosmopolitan Intl are -
Manufacturing automation
– Cosmopolitan Intl can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Air Courier 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Air Courier industry.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Air Courier industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cosmopolitan Intl in the Air Courier industry. Now Cosmopolitan Intl can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cosmopolitan Intl can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cosmopolitan Intl operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Air Courier sector.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Cosmopolitan Intl to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cosmopolitan Intl can develop new processes and procedures in Air Courier 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cosmopolitan Intl has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Air Courier industry. This can help Cosmopolitan Intl to build a more holistic ecosystem for Cosmopolitan Intl products in the Air Courier industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Air Courier industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cosmopolitan Intl 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. Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cosmopolitan Intl has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Air Courier sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Cosmopolitan Intl to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cosmopolitan Intl to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Air Courier industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cosmopolitan Intl can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cosmopolitan Intl to increase its market reach. Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Threats Cosmopolitan Intl External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Cosmopolitan Intl are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Air Courier industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Air Courier industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Air Courier industry and other sectors.
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 Cosmopolitan Intl business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cosmopolitan Intl is facing in Air Courier sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cosmopolitan Intl has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Air Courier industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cosmopolitan Intl needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Air Courier 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.
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 Cosmopolitan Intl.
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. Cosmopolitan Intl 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.
Environmental challenges
– Cosmopolitan Intl 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. Cosmopolitan Intl can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Air Courier industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cosmopolitan Intl in Air Courier industry. The Air Courier 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.
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. Cosmopolitan Intl needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Air Courier industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cosmopolitan Intl Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl 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 Cosmopolitan Intl needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.