Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study
Irene Fellner owns her family's three-star hotel in Switzerland. Facing decreasing revenues, she undertakes a conjoint analysis that suggests she should take on a brand name. She therefore considers joining the hotel chain Comfort Hotels as a franchisee. Learning objectives: This case is appropriate for teaching at MBA, EMBA or executive levels. In certain instances, it may also be taught in undergraduate courses as a means to illustrate the application of conjoint analysis. In particular, the case would be effective for market research, pricing, segmentation and hospitality courses.
Swot Analysis of "Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study" written by Stefan Michel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Conjoint Airotel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research, Pricing and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Conjoint Airotel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Conjoint Airotel 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Conjoint Airotel
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Conjoint Airotel
Strengths Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Conjoint Airotel in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Conjoint Airotel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Conjoint Airotel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Conjoint Airotel 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Conjoint Airotel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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.
Learning organization
- Conjoint Airotel 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 Conjoint Airotel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Conjoint Airotel 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Conjoint Airotel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Conjoint Airotel has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Conjoint Airotel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Conjoint Airotel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Conjoint Airotel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Conjoint Airotel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Conjoint Airotel 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Conjoint Airotel 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 Stefan Michel 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.
Weaknesses Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Conjoint Airotel products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Conjoint Airotel needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Conjoint Airotel 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study HBR case study mentions - Conjoint Airotel takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Conjoint Airotel, firm in the HBR case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study, it seems that the employees of Conjoint Airotel 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Conjoint Airotel 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study, is just above the industry average. Conjoint Airotel 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Conjoint Airotel is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Conjoint Airotel 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Conjoint Airotel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Conjoint Airotel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study | 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Conjoint Airotel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Conjoint Airotel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study case study. Conjoint Airotel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Conjoint Airotel 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Conjoint Airotel to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Conjoint Airotel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Conjoint Airotel can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
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. Conjoint Airotel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Conjoint Airotel 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Conjoint Airotel can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Conjoint Airotel 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. Conjoint Airotel 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Conjoint Airotel to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Conjoint Airotel 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 Conjoint Airotel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Conjoint Airotel in the consumer business. Now Conjoint Airotel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Conjoint Airotel 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.
Threats Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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.
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. Conjoint Airotel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Conjoint Airotel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Conjoint Airotel in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Conjoint Airotel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Conjoint Airotel needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Conjoint Airotel 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
– Conjoint Airotel 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. Conjoint Airotel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Conjoint Airotel in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Conjoint Airotel
– 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 Conjoint Airotel.
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 Conjoint Airotel.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Conjoint Airotel 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Conjoint Airotel 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Airotel Rumlang's Branding Challenge: A Conjoint Study 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 Conjoint Airotel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
