Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Emperor Watch & Jewellery is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Emperor Watch & Jewellery
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Emperor Watch & Jewellery can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Emperor Watch & Jewellery, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Emperor Watch & Jewellery
2. Improving business portfolio management of Emperor Watch & Jewellery
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Retail (Specialty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Emperor Watch & Jewellery
Strengths of Emperor Watch & Jewellery | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Emperor Watch & Jewellery are -
Digital Transformation in Retail (Specialty) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Emperor Watch & Jewellery digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Emperor Watch & Jewellery comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Analytics focus
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Emperor Watch & Jewellery in Retail (Specialty) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Specialty)
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Specialty) industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Emperor Watch & Jewellery in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Emperor Watch & Jewellery to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Specialty) industry. This has provided Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Specialty) industry
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Emperor Watch & Jewellery are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Emperor Watch & Jewellery | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Emperor Watch & Jewellery are -
Employees’ less understanding of Emperor Watch & Jewellery strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Emperor Watch & Jewellery products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Specialty) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Emperor Watch & Jewellery is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Retail (Specialty) industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Retail (Specialty) industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Specialty) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Emperor Watch & Jewellery can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Emperor Watch & Jewellery is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Emperor Watch & Jewellery has high operating costs in the Retail (Specialty) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Emperor Watch & Jewellery lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Emperor Watch & Jewellery is just above the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Specialty) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Emperor Watch & Jewellery is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Emperor Watch & Jewellery vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Emperor Watch & Jewellery is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry in last five years.
Emperor Watch & Jewellery Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Emperor Watch & Jewellery are -
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. Emperor Watch & Jewellery can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Specialty) industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Emperor Watch & Jewellery is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Emperor Watch & Jewellery can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Specialty) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Specialty) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Emperor Watch & Jewellery to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Emperor Watch & Jewellery to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Emperor Watch & Jewellery can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Emperor Watch & Jewellery operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Specialty) sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Specialty) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Emperor Watch & Jewellery has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Specialty) industry. This can help Emperor Watch & Jewellery to build a more holistic ecosystem for Emperor Watch & Jewellery products in the Retail (Specialty) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Emperor Watch & Jewellery can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Emperor Watch & Jewellery External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Emperor Watch & Jewellery are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Specialty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery
– 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery.
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. Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Specialty) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Emperor Watch & Jewellery may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Specialty) sector.
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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery.
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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery in the Retail (Specialty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Retail (Specialty) industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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. Emperor Watch & Jewellery can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Emperor Watch & Jewellery in Retail (Specialty) industry. The Retail (Specialty) 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Emperor Watch & Jewellery Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.