NFL Club Business Management SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of NFL Club Business Management
This case looks at issues facing three National Football League (NFL) teams in 2004: the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, and San Francisco 49ers. The case is written from the perspective of a consultant that will be moderating a debate on business management priorities facing NFL clubs. Each of the three clubs profiled faced different issues in 2004. The Cardinals struggled with poor attendance, an out-of-date stadium, and public reluctance to fund a new facility. The Texans, a new team that had played its first season in 2002, were building their franchise. The 49ers, once one of the league's elite franchises, were struggling with poor on-field performance, salary-cap limits, and an obsolete facility. The case prepares students for a discussion of business management priorities, including competitive success, financial success, and enhancement of fan loyalty and support.
Swot Analysis of "NFL Club Business Management" written by George Foster, Jessamy Tang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nfl 49ers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NFL Club Business Management case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NFL Club Business Management casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NFL Club Business Management
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NFL Club Business Management case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nfl 49ers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nfl 49ers 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 NFL Club Business Management can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NFL Club Business Management case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nfl 49ers
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 Nfl 49ers
Strengths NFL Club Business Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nfl 49ers in NFL Club Business Management Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nfl 49ers 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 NFL Club Business Management HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nfl 49ers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the NFL Club Business Management are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Nfl 49ers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in NFL Club Business Management 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Nfl 49ers is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Nfl 49ers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nfl 49ers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nfl 49ers has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– Nfl 49ers 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 industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by George Foster, Jessamy Tang can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nfl 49ers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nfl 49ers 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nfl 49ers has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study NFL Club Business Management - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Nfl 49ers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nfl 49ers 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
– NFL Club Business Management firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nfl 49ers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nfl 49ers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Nfl 49ers has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nfl 49ers to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nfl 49ers in the sector have low bargaining power. NFL Club Business Management has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nfl 49ers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses NFL Club Business Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NFL Club Business Management are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study NFL Club Business Management 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 Nfl 49ers 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nfl 49ers has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Nfl 49ers 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the NFL Club Business Management 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 Nfl 49ers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study NFL Club Business Management that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case NFL Club Business Management can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nfl 49ers 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, Nfl 49ers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study NFL Club Business Management can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nfl 49ers has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - NFL Club Business Management should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Nfl 49ers 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study NFL Club Business Management, is just above the industry average. Nfl 49ers 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study NFL Club Business Management, in the dynamic environment Nfl 49ers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nfl 49ers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nfl 49ers 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nfl 49ers has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities NFL Club Business Management | 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 NFL Club Business Management are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nfl 49ers 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, NFL Club Business Management, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nfl 49ers can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nfl 49ers 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nfl 49ers in the consumer business. Now Nfl 49ers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Nfl 49ers 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nfl 49ers 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.
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. Nfl 49ers 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. Nfl 49ers 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 Nfl 49ers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nfl 49ers has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study NFL Club Business Management - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nfl 49ers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nfl 49ers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nfl 49ers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the NFL Club Business Management case study. Nfl 49ers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Nfl 49ers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nfl 49ers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nfl 49ers 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.
Threats NFL Club Business Management External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study NFL Club Business Management are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nfl 49ers is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Nfl 49ers 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Nfl 49ers
– 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 Nfl 49ers.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nfl 49ers in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Nfl 49ers in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Nfl 49ers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Nfl 49ers.
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 Nfl 49ers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nfl 49ers 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study NFL Club Business Management, Nfl 49ers 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 .
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 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. Nfl 49ers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Nfl 49ers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NFL Club Business Management 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 NFL Club Business Management 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 NFL Club Business Management 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 NFL Club Business Management 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 NFL Club Business Management 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 Nfl 49ers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
