Beijing Gas Blue Sky (6828) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Beijing Gas Blue Sky (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Beijing Gas Blue Sky is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Beijing Gas Blue Sky

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Beijing Gas Blue Sky can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beijing Gas Blue Sky, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Beijing Gas Blue Sky
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beijing Gas Blue Sky
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Printing & Publishing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Beijing Gas Blue Sky

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Strengths of Beijing Gas Blue Sky | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Beijing Gas Blue Sky are -

Organizational Resilience of Beijing Gas Blue Sky

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

Ability to lead change in Printing & Publishing

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky is present in almost all the verticals within the Printing & Publishing industry. This has provided Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Printing & Publishing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Beijing Gas Blue Sky have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Beijing Gas Blue Sky staying ahead in the Printing & Publishing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Innovation driven organization

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky is one of the most innovative firm in Printing & Publishing sector.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Beijing Gas Blue Sky comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Printing & Publishing 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing & Publishing industry

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Beijing Gas Blue Sky to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Printing & Publishing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Beijing Gas Blue Sky to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Beijing Gas Blue Sky in Printing & Publishing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

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Weaknesses of Beijing Gas Blue Sky | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Beijing Gas Blue Sky are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Beijing Gas Blue Sky is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Beijing Gas Blue Sky to provide better information regarding Printing & Publishing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Beijing Gas Blue Sky, in the dynamic environment of Printing & Publishing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Beijing Gas Blue Sky has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Employees’ less understanding of Beijing Gas Blue Sky strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Beijing Gas Blue Sky has high operating costs in the Printing & Publishing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Beijing Gas Blue Sky lucrative customers.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Beijing Gas Blue Sky is one of the leading players in the Printing & Publishing industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Printing & Publishing industry in last five years.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Skills based hiring in Printing & Publishing industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

High dependence on Beijing Gas Blue Sky ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Beijing Gas Blue Sky still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Printing & Publishing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Beijing Gas Blue Sky has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Beijing Gas Blue Sky is just above the Printing & Publishing 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Printing & Publishing industry, Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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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Beijing Gas Blue Sky Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Beijing Gas Blue Sky are -

Buying journey improvements

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Printing & Publishing 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Beijing Gas Blue Sky has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Printing & Publishing industry. This can help Beijing Gas Blue Sky to build a more holistic ecosystem for Beijing Gas Blue Sky products in the Printing & Publishing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Beijing Gas Blue Sky can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Beijing Gas Blue Sky operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Printing & Publishing sector.

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. Beijing Gas Blue Sky can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Beijing Gas Blue Sky is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Beijing Gas Blue Sky can utilize new technology in the field of Printing & Publishing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Beijing Gas Blue Sky to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Printing & Publishing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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. Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Beijing Gas Blue Sky in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing & Publishing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Printing & Publishing industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Beijing Gas Blue Sky in the Printing & Publishing industry. Now Beijing Gas Blue Sky can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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Threats Beijing Gas Blue Sky External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Beijing Gas Blue Sky are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Beijing Gas Blue Sky may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Printing & Publishing sector.

Easy access to finance

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

Environmental challenges

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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. Beijing Gas Blue Sky can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Printing & Publishing industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Printing & Publishing industry and other sectors.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Printing & Publishing industry.

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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

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. Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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.

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.

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. Beijing Gas Blue Sky needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing & Publishing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Printing & Publishing industry regulations.

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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky in the Printing & Publishing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Beijing Gas Blue Sky 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 Beijing Gas Blue Sky prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Beijing Gas Blue Sky Template, Example

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

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