Shougangncord Int Enterprises (697) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Shougangncord Int Enterprises (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Shougangncord Int Enterprises is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shougangncord Int Enterprises

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Shougangncord Int Enterprises can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shougangncord Int Enterprises, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Shougangncord Int Enterprises can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Shougangncord Int Enterprises
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shougangncord Int Enterprises
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Iron & Steel sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shougangncord Int Enterprises

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Strengths of Shougangncord Int Enterprises | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Shougangncord Int Enterprises are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Shougangncord Int Enterprises in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Shougangncord Int Enterprises has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Shougangncord Int Enterprises to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shougangncord Int Enterprises has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Iron & Steel industry

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shougangncord Int Enterprises to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Iron & Steel industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shougangncord Int Enterprises to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Shougangncord Int Enterprises in Iron & Steel industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Innovation driven organization

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises is one of the most innovative firm in Iron & Steel sector.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

Ability to lead change in Iron & Steel

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises is one of the leading players in the Iron & Steel industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Iron & Steel industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Shougangncord Int Enterprises in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High brand equity

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shougangncord Int Enterprises to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Organizational Resilience of Shougangncord Int Enterprises

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Shougangncord Int Enterprises does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises is one of the leading players in the Iron & Steel 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Iron & Steel industry

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Shougangncord Int Enterprises comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Iron & Steel 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.

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Weaknesses of Shougangncord Int Enterprises | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Shougangncord Int Enterprises are -

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Shougangncord Int Enterprises is one of the leading players in the Iron & Steel industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Iron & Steel industry in last five years.

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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Shougangncord Int Enterprises is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shougangncord Int Enterprises vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Shougangncord Int Enterprises has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Iron & Steel industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Need for greater diversity

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Shougangncord Int Enterprises is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Iron & Steel industry, but Shougangncord Int Enterprises needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shougangncord Int Enterprises to focus more on services in the Iron & Steel industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Lack of clear differentiation of Shougangncord Int Enterprises products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Shougangncord Int Enterprises needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Shougangncord Int Enterprises, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Iron & Steel 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises, in the dynamic environment of Iron & Steel industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shougangncord Int Enterprises has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Shougangncord Int Enterprises is just above the Iron & Steel industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Shougangncord Int Enterprises needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Iron & Steel industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Shougangncord Int Enterprises can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shougangncord Int Enterprises is planning to shift buying processes online.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Iron & Steel industry, Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

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Shougangncord Int Enterprises Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Shougangncord Int Enterprises are -

Manufacturing automation

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Iron & Steel 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shougangncord Int Enterprises to increase its market reach. Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shougangncord Int Enterprises can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Iron & Steel industry.

Loyalty marketing

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises can develop new processes and procedures in Iron & Steel 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shougangncord Int Enterprises in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Iron & Steel 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, Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shougangncord Int Enterprises is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Shougangncord Int Enterprises can utilize new technology in the field of Iron & Steel industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Iron & Steel industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Shougangncord Int Enterprises in the Iron & Steel industry. Now Shougangncord Int Enterprises can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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. Shougangncord Int Enterprises can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Shougangncord Int Enterprises External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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.

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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Iron & Steel industry.

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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises in the Iron & Steel sector and impact the bottomline 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Shougangncord Int Enterprises in Iron & Steel industry. The Iron & Steel 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.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Shougangncord Int Enterprises may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Iron & Steel sector.

Environmental challenges

– Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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. Shougangncord Int Enterprises can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Iron & Steel industry.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Shougangncord Int Enterprises is facing in Iron & Steel sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Iron & Steel industry and other sectors.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Iron & Steel industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shougangncord Int Enterprises can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Iron & Steel industry are lowering. It can presents Shougangncord Int Enterprises with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Iron & Steel sector.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shougangncord Int Enterprises Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises 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 Shougangncord Int Enterprises needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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