Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Food Processing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture
Strengths of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 recruit top talent
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture staying ahead in the Food Processing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Digital Transformation in Food Processing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 lead change in Food Processing
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Food Processing industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Analytics focus
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Food Processing 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is present in almost all the verticals within the Food Processing industry. This has provided Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture in Food Processing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Food Processing industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is just above the Food Processing 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture, in the dynamic environment of Food Processing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has some of the most successful models in the Food Processing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Food Processing industry, but Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to focus more on services in the Food Processing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has high operating costs in the Food Processing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Food Processing industry, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Food Processing industry over the last five years. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Food Processing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Food Processing industry.
Loyalty marketing
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Food Processing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Food Processing industry. This can help Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to build a more holistic ecosystem for Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture products in the Food Processing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Food Processing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can utilize new technology in the field of Food Processing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Food Processing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Food Processing 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.
Threats Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Food Processing sector.
Environmental challenges
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Food Processing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Food Processing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture
– 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture.
Regulatory challenges
– Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Food Processing industry regulations.
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. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Food Processing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture in Food Processing industry. The Food Processing 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture prominent markets.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Food Processing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture is facing in Food Processing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Food Processing industry are lowering. It can presents Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Food Processing 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture 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 Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
