Shirble Department Store China (312) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Department & Discount)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Shirble Department Store China (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Shirble Department Store China is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shirble Department Store China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Shirble Department Store China can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shirble Department Store China, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Shirble Department Store China
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shirble Department Store China
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Retail (Department & Discount) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shirble Department Store China
Strengths of Shirble Department Store China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shirble Department Store China are -
Organizational Resilience of Shirble Department Store China
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Shirble Department Store China does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Shirble Department Store China emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shirble Department Store China has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Shirble Department Store China staying ahead in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Department & Discount)
– Shirble Department Store China is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Shirble Department Store China in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Shirble Department Store China digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Shirble Department Store China 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Shirble Department Store China is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shirble Department Store China is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This has provided Shirble Department Store China 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Shirble Department Store China has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shirble Department Store China to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shirble Department Store China to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Shirble Department Store China comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Shirble Department Store China is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Shirble Department Store China 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 Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Shirble Department Store China 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.
Weaknesses of Shirble Department Store China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Shirble Department Store China are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Shirble Department Store China needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Shirble Department Store China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shirble Department Store China is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Shirble Department Store China products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Shirble Department Store China needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Shirble Department Store China has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Shirble Department Store China should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Shirble Department Store China needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Shirble Department Store China has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry over the last five years. Shirble Department Store China 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Shirble Department Store China has high operating costs in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Shirble Department Store China lucrative customers.
High dependence on Shirble Department Store China ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Shirble Department Store China still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Department & Discount) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Shirble Department Store China has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shirble Department Store China is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, but Shirble Department Store China needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shirble Department Store China to focus more on services in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Shirble Department Store China, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, Shirble Department Store China 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Shirble Department Store China is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in last five years.
Shirble Department Store China Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Shirble Department Store China are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shirble Department Store China in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shirble Department Store China to increase its market reach. Shirble Department Store China 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Shirble Department Store China can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Shirble Department Store China 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shirble Department Store China is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Shirble Department Store China can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Department & Discount) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shirble Department Store China can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Shirble Department Store China 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. Shirble Department Store China 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shirble Department Store China can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
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. Shirble Department Store China can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shirble Department Store China has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Department & Discount) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Shirble Department Store China to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shirble Department Store China can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shirble Department Store China operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shirble Department Store China has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This can help Shirble Department Store China to build a more holistic ecosystem for Shirble Department Store China products in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Shirble Department Store China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Shirble Department Store China are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Shirble Department Store China 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
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. Shirble Department Store China 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Department & Discount) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shirble Department Store China can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shirble Department Store China 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Shirble Department Store China in Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
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 Shirble Department Store China.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Department & Discount) industry are lowering. It can presents Shirble Department Store China with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
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 Shirble Department Store China business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Shirble Department Store China
– 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 Shirble Department Store China.
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 Shirble Department Store China in the Retail (Department & Discount) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Shirble Department Store China 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. Shirble Department Store China can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shirble Department Store China is facing in Retail (Department & Discount) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shirble Department Store China Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China 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 Shirble Department Store China needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
