SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Qinqin Foodstuffs (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Qinqin Foodstuffs is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Qinqin Foodstuffs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Qinqin Foodstuffs can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Qinqin Foodstuffs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Qinqin Foodstuffs
2. Improving business portfolio management of Qinqin Foodstuffs
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Food Processing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Qinqin Foodstuffs
Strengths of Qinqin Foodstuffs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Qinqin Foodstuffs are -
Strong track record of project management in the Food Processing industry
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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
– Qinqin Foodstuffs has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Qinqin Foodstuffs to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Qinqin Foodstuffs
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Qinqin Foodstuffs does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Qinqin Foodstuffs is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Food Processing industry. The technology infrastructure of Hong Kong is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Diverse revenue streams
– Qinqin Foodstuffs is present in almost all the verticals within the Food Processing industry. This has provided Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Qinqin Foodstuffs has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Qinqin Foodstuffs staying ahead in the Food Processing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Food Processing
– Qinqin Foodstuffs is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Food Processing industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Qinqin Foodstuffs in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Food Processing industry
– Qinqin Foodstuffs has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Qinqin Foodstuffs to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Food Processing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Qinqin Foodstuffs to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Qinqin Foodstuffs in Food Processing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Qinqin Foodstuffs in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Qinqin Foodstuffs has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Qinqin Foodstuffs to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Qinqin Foodstuffs are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Qinqin Foodstuffs has high operating costs in the Food Processing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Qinqin Foodstuffs lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Qinqin Foodstuffs is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Food Processing industry, but Qinqin Foodstuffs needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Qinqin Foodstuffs to focus more on services in the Food Processing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Qinqin Foodstuffs ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Qinqin Foodstuffs still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Food Processing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Qinqin Foodstuffs has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Qinqin Foodstuffs needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Food Processing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Qinqin Foodstuffs can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Qinqin Foodstuffs is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Qinqin Foodstuffs is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Qinqin Foodstuffs to provide better information regarding Food Processing 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs is just above the Food Processing industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Qinqin Foodstuffs, in the dynamic environment of Food Processing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Qinqin Foodstuffs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Qinqin Foodstuffs products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Qinqin Foodstuffs needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Qinqin Foodstuffs has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Food Processing industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Qinqin Foodstuffs, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Food Processing 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.
Qinqin Foodstuffs Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Qinqin Foodstuffs are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Qinqin Foodstuffs can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Food Processing sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Qinqin Foodstuffs to increase its market reach. Qinqin Foodstuffs will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Qinqin Foodstuffs can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Food Processing 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
– Qinqin Foodstuffs can develop new processes and procedures in Food Processing 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Qinqin Foodstuffs is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Qinqin Foodstuffs can utilize new technology in the field of Food Processing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Qinqin Foodstuffs has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Food Processing industry. This can help Qinqin Foodstuffs to build a more holistic ecosystem for Qinqin Foodstuffs products in the Food Processing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Food Processing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Qinqin Foodstuffs can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Food Processing industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Qinqin Foodstuffs in the Food Processing industry. Now Qinqin Foodstuffs can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Qinqin Foodstuffs can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Food Processing industry.
Threats Qinqin Foodstuffs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Qinqin Foodstuffs are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Food Processing industry and other sectors.
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.
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. Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs is facing in Food Processing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Qinqin Foodstuffs in the Food Processing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Qinqin Foodstuffs
– 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Qinqin Foodstuffs in Food Processing industry. The Food Processing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Food Processing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Qinqin Foodstuffs can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Qinqin Foodstuffs can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Food Processing industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Food Processing industry are lowering. It can presents Qinqin Foodstuffs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Food Processing sector.
Environmental challenges
– Qinqin Foodstuffs 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. Qinqin Foodstuffs can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Food Processing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Qinqin Foodstuffs Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs 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 Qinqin Foodstuffs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.