Edaixi EWash Digital Transformation Of Laundry Services A Case Solution

2. Internal Analysis

This section will discuss the internal analysis of the company and will discuss the SWOT analysis, more specifically. SWOT analysis which stands for strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats, helps to give a broad view of the company’s internal operations and areas that they may need to focus on (Kolmar, 2020).

i. SWOT Analysis: Strengths

Strengths are resources or capabilities of the company that can be used in favor of the operations. These strengths can be used by the company to achieve its goals and objectives (MindTools, 2021).

The strengths of eWash included the fact that it was a trendsetter when it came to customer service as well as providing such a unique service which was not available in the market. Moreover, it focused on quality so much so that it provided extra buttons, zippers and other accessories to its subcontractors so as to do immediate repairs when needed. The company was focusing on continuous improvement of evaluation systems of subcontractors. eWash also had a dedicated team that managed day-to-day operations of the subcontractors. The company provided excellent after-sales services with 400 telephone lines in its call centers, in order to answer any queries that customers may have. The company practiced differentiated marketing, targeting executive business school students as customers.

ii. SWOT Analysis: Weakness

Weaknesses are deficiencies that the company may need to work on, in order to overcome them. The company may need to revisit their strategies in order to improve their areas of weaknesses (Williams, 2019). The weaknesses of the company included the heavy dependence on third party vendors which resulted in the company paying 50% to 60% of the price of each wash to them. This heavy dependence also meant that the parent company had little to no control on quality and that meant rising customer complaints. External logistics teams were seen to be careless when it came to on-time deliveries which resulted in slow response. The employees had limited knowledge of the laundry services which was also negatively impacting customer service.

iii. SWOT Analysis: Opportunities

Opportunities are potential future strengths that can be turned into the company’s favor. These opportunities when optimized can be beneficial to the company (Visual Paradigm, 2021). There was a shift in traditional laundry services from conventional to digital, with each part of the supply chain leveraging internet in their operations. The trend of online order transmission was not only limited to China, but was now worldwide.

iv. SWOT Analysis: Threats

Threats are external factors that cannot be controlled by the company but would impact the operations of the company. The company would need to develop a plan “b” to counter these threats (Parsons, 2021). One of the major threats to the company was that the venture capital investment in online to offline businesses in China was reduced. This prevented the company from attracting new customers. The skill level of third party vendors is also a threat for the company.

3. External Analysis

The external analysis includes an industry-wide analysis of factors that have an impact on the company. All of these factors are uncontrollable factors however, they have a lasting impact on the business’ operations. These factors evaluate the industry on a macro scale and take into account the political, economic, social and technological factors – PEST (CFI, 2021).

i. Political Factors

The case does not give any evidence of political factors that may impact the company’s operations. However, the Chinese government’s policies regarding the rules and regulations that may impact internet provider and any restrictions in place may hinder digital transformation in any industry. If the company faces trade restrictions, then it would not be able to function freely and successfully. According to the case, the company is not facing any such problems; in fact the environment is conducive to the digital transformation of the laundry industry.