Swot Analysis of "This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B)" written by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr., Jerry Useem includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Beavis Sucks facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beavis Sucks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beavis Sucks 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 This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beavis Sucks
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Beavis Sucks
Strengths This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Beavis Sucks in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Beavis Sucks
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Beavis Sucks does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Beavis Sucks to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Beavis Sucks to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Beavis Sucks in the sector have low bargaining power. This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Beavis Sucks to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Beavis Sucks in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Beavis Sucks has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Beavis Sucks has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Beavis Sucks is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Beavis Sucks 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
– Beavis Sucks has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Beavis Sucks 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Beavis Sucks is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Beavis Sucks 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
– Beavis Sucks is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study 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 This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Beavis Sucks 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 industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Beavis Sucks 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Beavis Sucks 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Beavis Sucks 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Beavis Sucks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B), is just above the industry average. Beavis Sucks 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Joseph L. Badaracco Jr., Jerry Useem suggests that, Beavis Sucks 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 industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B), in the dynamic environment Beavis Sucks has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Beavis Sucks has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Beavis Sucks 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Beavis Sucks products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Beavis Sucks needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Beavis Sucks 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Beavis Sucks 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, as suggested in case study, This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Beavis Sucks can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Beavis Sucks operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Beavis Sucks can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. 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 Beavis Sucks in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Beavis Sucks can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Beavis Sucks can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Beavis Sucks to increase its market reach. Beavis Sucks 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
– Beavis Sucks 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Beavis Sucks is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Beavis Sucks 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 Beavis Sucks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Beavis Sucks has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Beavis Sucks to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) case study. Beavis Sucks can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Beavis Sucks can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) suggest that firm 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.
Threats This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Beavis Sucks is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Beavis Sucks business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Beavis Sucks 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 the industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B), Beavis Sucks may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Beavis Sucks has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Beavis Sucks needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Beavis Sucks 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 prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) .
Increasing wage structure of Beavis Sucks
– 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 Beavis Sucks.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Beavis Sucks with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Beavis Sucks can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Beavis Sucks 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. Beavis Sucks can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Beavis Sucks 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 field.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) 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 the case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) 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 the Harvard case study This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) 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 This Case Sucks: Beavis, Butt-head, and TV Content (B) is 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 Beavis Sucks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
