Nanjing Sinolife United (3332) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Grocery)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nanjing Sinolife United (Hong Kong)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nanjing Sinolife United is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nanjing Sinolife United
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nanjing Sinolife United can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nanjing Sinolife United, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nanjing Sinolife United
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nanjing Sinolife United
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Retail (Grocery) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nanjing Sinolife United
Strengths of Nanjing Sinolife United | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nanjing Sinolife United are -
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Grocery) industry
– Nanjing Sinolife United is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nanjing Sinolife United has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nanjing Sinolife United in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Nanjing Sinolife United has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nanjing Sinolife United to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nanjing Sinolife United has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Grocery) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Nanjing Sinolife United have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nanjing Sinolife United has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Nanjing Sinolife United staying ahead in the Retail (Grocery) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Nanjing Sinolife United is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Grocery) sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Nanjing Sinolife United comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Grocery) 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.
High brand equity
– Nanjing Sinolife United has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nanjing Sinolife United to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Grocery) industry
– Nanjing Sinolife United has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nanjing Sinolife United to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Grocery) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nanjing Sinolife United to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Learning organization
- Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Nanjing Sinolife United emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nanjing Sinolife United is one of the leading players in the Retail (Grocery) 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.
Weaknesses of Nanjing Sinolife United | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nanjing Sinolife United are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Nanjing Sinolife United products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nanjing Sinolife United needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nanjing Sinolife United is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Grocery) industry, but Nanjing Sinolife United needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nanjing Sinolife United to focus more on services in the Retail (Grocery) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Nanjing Sinolife United is one of the leading players in the Retail (Grocery) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Grocery) industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Grocery) industry, Nanjing Sinolife United needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Nanjing Sinolife United, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Grocery) 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Nanjing Sinolife United needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Grocery) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Nanjing Sinolife United can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nanjing Sinolife United 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, Nanjing Sinolife United is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nanjing Sinolife United to provide better information regarding Retail (Grocery) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ less understanding of Nanjing Sinolife United strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nanjing Sinolife United 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 (Grocery) industry using digital technology.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Nanjing Sinolife United, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Grocery) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nanjing Sinolife United has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Nanjing Sinolife United Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nanjing Sinolife United are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Nanjing Sinolife United can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Grocery) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nanjing Sinolife United can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nanjing Sinolife United operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Grocery) sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Nanjing Sinolife United 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, Nanjing Sinolife United is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nanjing Sinolife United can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Grocery) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nanjing Sinolife United can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Grocery) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Nanjing Sinolife United 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. Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Nanjing Sinolife United can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Grocery) 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nanjing Sinolife United can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Grocery) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nanjing Sinolife United 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 (Grocery) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Retail (Grocery) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nanjing Sinolife United in the Retail (Grocery) industry. Now Nanjing Sinolife United can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
Threats Nanjing Sinolife United External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nanjing Sinolife United are -
Environmental challenges
– Nanjing Sinolife United 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. Nanjing Sinolife United can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Grocery) industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nanjing Sinolife United 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.
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. Nanjing Sinolife United needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Grocery) 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 Nanjing Sinolife United.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nanjing Sinolife United is facing in Retail (Grocery) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nanjing Sinolife United in Retail (Grocery) industry. The Retail (Grocery) 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.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Grocery) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nanjing Sinolife United 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
– Nanjing Sinolife United 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 (Grocery) industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Nanjing Sinolife United
– 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 Nanjing Sinolife United.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Grocery) industry are lowering. It can presents Nanjing Sinolife United with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Grocery) sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nanjing Sinolife United Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United 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 Nanjing Sinolife United needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.