Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Emperor Watch & Jewellery is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
Innovation driven organization
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Specialty) industry
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Emperor Watch & Jewellery to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Emperor Watch & Jewellery to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Emperor Watch & Jewellery in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Emperor Watch & Jewellery has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Emperor Watch & Jewellery to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
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.
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 -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Emperor Watch & Jewellery is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, but Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Emperor Watch & Jewellery to focus more on services in the Retail (Specialty) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Emperor Watch & Jewellery has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Emperor Watch & Jewellery needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Emperor Watch & Jewellery, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Specialty) 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Emperor Watch & Jewellery, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Specialty) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Emperor Watch & Jewellery has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
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 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Emperor Watch & Jewellery in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Specialty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Emperor Watch & Jewellery 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
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.
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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Specialty) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Emperor Watch & Jewellery can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.