Asia Satellite Telecommunications (1135) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Asia Satellite Telecommunications (Hong Kong)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Asia Satellite Telecommunications is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Asia Satellite Telecommunications

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

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Strengths of Asia Satellite Telecommunications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Asia Satellite Telecommunications are -

Ability to recruit top talent

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications is one of the leading players in the Communications Services 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

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications is present in almost all the verticals within the Communications Services industry. This has provided Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

High brand equity

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications in Communications Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Analytics focus

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Communications Services 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Asia Satellite Telecommunications staying ahead in the Communications Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of Asia Satellite Telecommunications

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communications Services industry

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Asia Satellite Telecommunications to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communications Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Asia Satellite Telecommunications to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Training and development

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Communications Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Asia Satellite Telecommunications have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Innovation driven organization

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications is one of the most innovative firm in Communications Services sector.

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Weaknesses of Asia Satellite Telecommunications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Asia Satellite Telecommunications are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Asia Satellite Telecommunications has high operating costs in the Communications Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Asia Satellite Telecommunications lucrative customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Asia Satellite Telecommunications, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Communications Services 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Asia Satellite Telecommunications strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Communications Services industry using digital technology.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Asia Satellite Telecommunications needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Communications Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Asia Satellite Telecommunications can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Asia Satellite Telecommunications is planning to shift buying processes online.

High dependence on Asia Satellite Telecommunications ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Asia Satellite Telecommunications still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Communications Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Asia Satellite Telecommunications has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Communications Services industry, Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Asia Satellite Telecommunications is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Asia Satellite Telecommunications to provide better information regarding Communications Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Asia Satellite Telecommunications is just above the Communications Services 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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications, in the dynamic environment of Communications Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Asia Satellite Telecommunications has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Asia Satellite Telecommunications Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Asia Satellite Telecommunications are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Asia Satellite Telecommunications is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Asia Satellite Telecommunications can utilize new technology in the field of Communications Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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, Asia Satellite Telecommunications can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Asia Satellite Telecommunications operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communications Services sector.

Manufacturing automation

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communications Services 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.

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. Asia Satellite Telecommunications can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

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

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Communications Services industry.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Asia Satellite Telecommunications in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communications Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Communications Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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. Asia Satellite Telecommunications can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Communications Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Asia Satellite Telecommunications to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Asia Satellite Telecommunications to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

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Threats Asia Satellite Telecommunications External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Asia Satellite Telecommunications are -

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. Asia Satellite Telecommunications needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communications Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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, Asia Satellite Telecommunications may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communications Services sector.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications prominent markets.

Environmental challenges

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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. Asia Satellite Telecommunications can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communications Services industry.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Communications Services industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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 Communications Services industry and other sectors.

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. Asia Satellite Telecommunications 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.

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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Communications Services industry are lowering. It can presents Asia Satellite Telecommunications with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Communications Services sector.

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 Asia Satellite Telecommunications in the Communications Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Asia Satellite Telecommunications is facing in Communications Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Template, Example

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

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