Great Harvest Maeta (3683) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Water Transportation
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Great Harvest Maeta (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Great Harvest Maeta is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Great Harvest Maeta
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Great Harvest Maeta can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Great Harvest Maeta, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Great Harvest Maeta
2. Improving business portfolio management of Great Harvest Maeta
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Water Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Great Harvest Maeta
Strengths of Great Harvest Maeta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Great Harvest Maeta are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Great Harvest Maeta is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Water Transportation industry
– Great Harvest Maeta has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Great Harvest Maeta to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Water Transportation industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Great Harvest Maeta to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Great Harvest Maeta has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Great Harvest Maeta is present in almost all the verticals within the Water Transportation industry. This has provided Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Analytics focus
– Great Harvest Maeta 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 Water Transportation 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.
Learning organization
- Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Great Harvest Maeta emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Great Harvest Maeta in Water Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Great Harvest Maeta is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Water Transportation industry
– Great Harvest Maeta is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Great Harvest Maeta has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Great Harvest Maeta to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Great Harvest Maeta in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Great Harvest Maeta has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Great Harvest Maeta to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Great Harvest Maeta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Great Harvest Maeta are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Great Harvest Maeta is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Water Transportation industry, but Great Harvest Maeta needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Great Harvest Maeta to focus more on services in the Water Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Great Harvest Maeta, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Water Transportation 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 Water Transportation industry, Great Harvest Maeta 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, Great Harvest Maeta is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Great Harvest Maeta to provide better information regarding Water Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Great Harvest Maeta needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Water Transportation industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Great Harvest Maeta can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Great Harvest Maeta is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Great Harvest Maeta has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Water Transportation industry over the last five years. Great Harvest Maeta 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 dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Great Harvest Maeta supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Great Harvest Maeta is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Great Harvest Maeta vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Great Harvest Maeta, in the dynamic environment of Water Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Great Harvest Maeta has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Great Harvest Maeta products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Great Harvest Maeta needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Great Harvest Maeta needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Great Harvest Maeta Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Great Harvest Maeta are -
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 Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Great Harvest Maeta can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Great Harvest Maeta operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Water Transportation sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Great Harvest Maeta can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Water Transportation 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Water Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Great Harvest Maeta in the Water Transportation industry. Now Great Harvest Maeta can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Great Harvest Maeta has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Water Transportation industry. This can help Great Harvest Maeta to build a more holistic ecosystem for Great Harvest Maeta products in the Water Transportation industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Water Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Great Harvest Maeta 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. Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Great Harvest Maeta is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Great Harvest Maeta can utilize new technology in the field of Water Transportation 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 Great Harvest Maeta can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Water Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Great Harvest Maeta can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Great Harvest Maeta 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 Water Transportation industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Great Harvest Maeta in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Water Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Great Harvest Maeta External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Great Harvest Maeta are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Great Harvest Maeta may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Water Transportation sector.
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. Great Harvest Maeta 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Great Harvest Maeta is facing in Water Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Great Harvest Maeta.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Water Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Great Harvest Maeta can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Great Harvest Maeta
– 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 Great Harvest Maeta.
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. Great Harvest Maeta needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta prominent markets.
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 Great Harvest Maeta in the Water Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Great Harvest Maeta 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Great Harvest Maeta in Water Transportation industry. The Water Transportation industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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 Great Harvest Maeta business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Great Harvest Maeta Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta 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 Great Harvest Maeta needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
