Beijing Jingkelong Co (814) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Department & Discount)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Beijing Jingkelong Co (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Beijing Jingkelong Co is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Beijing Jingkelong Co
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Beijing Jingkelong Co can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beijing Jingkelong Co, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Beijing Jingkelong Co
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beijing Jingkelong Co
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Retail (Department & Discount) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Beijing Jingkelong Co
Strengths of Beijing Jingkelong Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Beijing Jingkelong Co are -
Analytics focus
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 (Department & Discount) 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.
High brand equity
– Beijing Jingkelong Co has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Beijing Jingkelong Co to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Beijing Jingkelong Co
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Beijing Jingkelong Co does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Beijing Jingkelong Co is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Beijing Jingkelong Co has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Beijing Jingkelong Co comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Beijing Jingkelong Co has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Beijing Jingkelong Co to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Beijing Jingkelong Co to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Department & Discount)
– Beijing Jingkelong Co is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Beijing Jingkelong Co in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Beijing Jingkelong Co is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Beijing Jingkelong Co in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Beijing Jingkelong Co has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Beijing Jingkelong Co to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Beijing Jingkelong Co is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This has provided Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Weaknesses of Beijing Jingkelong Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Beijing Jingkelong Co are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Beijing Jingkelong Co needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Beijing Jingkelong Co can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Beijing Jingkelong Co is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Beijing Jingkelong Co is just above the Retail (Department & Discount) 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 (Department & Discount) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Beijing Jingkelong Co is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Beijing Jingkelong Co to provide better information regarding Retail (Department & Discount) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Beijing Jingkelong Co is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 (Department & Discount) industry.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Beijing Jingkelong Co has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry over the last five years. Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Beijing Jingkelong Co has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Beijing Jingkelong Co needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Beijing Jingkelong Co Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Beijing Jingkelong Co are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Department & Discount) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Beijing Jingkelong Co can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Beijing Jingkelong Co can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Beijing Jingkelong Co to increase its market reach. Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
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. Beijing Jingkelong Co can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Beijing Jingkelong Co 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, Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 (Department & Discount) industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Beijing Jingkelong Co can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Beijing Jingkelong Co operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Beijing Jingkelong Co can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Department & Discount) 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, Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Beijing Jingkelong Co has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Department & Discount) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Beijing Jingkelong Co to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Beijing Jingkelong Co to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Threats Beijing Jingkelong Co External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Beijing Jingkelong Co are -
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 Beijing Jingkelong Co business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 (Department & Discount) industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Department & Discount) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co
– 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co prominent markets.
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. Beijing Jingkelong Co needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry and other sectors.
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 Beijing Jingkelong Co.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
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. Beijing Jingkelong Co 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.
Environmental challenges
– Beijing Jingkelong Co 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. Beijing Jingkelong Co can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
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 Beijing Jingkelong Co Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co 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 Beijing Jingkelong Co needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.