Anxin-China (1149) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Security Systems & Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Anxin-China (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Anxin-China is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Anxin-China can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Anxin-China, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Anxin-China
2. Improving business portfolio management of Anxin-China
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Security Systems & Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Anxin-China
Strengths of Anxin-China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Anxin-China are -
High brand equity
– Anxin-China has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Anxin-China to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Anxin-China emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Anxin-China 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Security Systems & Services industry
– Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Security Systems & Services industry
– Anxin-China has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Anxin-China to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Anxin-China to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Anxin-China 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 Security Systems & 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Anxin-China has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Security Systems & Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Anxin-China have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Anxin-China is one of the leading players in the Security Systems & 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Anxin-China has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Anxin-China 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Anxin-China is present in almost all the verticals within the Security Systems & Services industry. This has provided Anxin-China 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)
– Anxin-China has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Anxin-China staying ahead in the Security Systems & Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Anxin-China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anxin-China are -
High dependence on Anxin-China ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Anxin-China still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Security Systems & Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Anxin-China has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Security Systems & Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Anxin-China 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Anxin-China has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Security Systems & Services industry over the last five years. Anxin-China 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Anxin-China needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Security Systems & Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Anxin-China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Anxin-China is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Anxin-China needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Anxin-China is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Security Systems & Services industry, but Anxin-China needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Anxin-China to focus more on services in the Security Systems & Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Anxin-China is just above the Security Systems & 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Anxin-China has some of the most successful models in the Security Systems & Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Anxin-China should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Anxin-China 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 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 Anxin-China supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Anxin-China is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Anxin-China vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Anxin-China products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Anxin-China needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Anxin-China Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Anxin-China are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Anxin-China to increase its market reach. Anxin-China 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Security Systems & Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Anxin-China in the Security Systems & Services industry. Now Anxin-China can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Anxin-China 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Security Systems & Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Anxin-China 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. Anxin-China 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Anxin-China in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Security Systems & Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Anxin-China 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Security Systems & Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Anxin-China can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Anxin-China can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Anxin-China can develop new processes and procedures in Security Systems & Services 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Anxin-China 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Anxin-China 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Anxin-China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Anxin-China are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Security Systems & Services industry are lowering. It can presents Anxin-China with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Security Systems & Services 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. Anxin-China 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.
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 Anxin-China in the Security Systems & Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Anxin-China needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Security Systems & Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Anxin-China.
Increasing wage structure of Anxin-China
– 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 Anxin-China.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Anxin-China 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 Security Systems & Services industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Anxin-China is facing in Security Systems & Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 Security Systems & Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Anxin-China can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Anxin-China 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 Security Systems & Services industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anxin-China Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China 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 Anxin-China needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.