Swot Analysis of "Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C)" written by Lynda M. Applegate, Rakesh Khurana includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Smith's Joe facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Smith's Joe, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Smith's Joe 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Smith's Joe
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Smith's Joe
Strengths Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Smith's Joe in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Smith's Joe 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 Smith's Joe is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Smith's Joe digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Smith's Joe 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Smith's Joe is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Smith's Joe is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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.
Training and development
– Smith's Joe has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Smith's Joe in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Smith's Joe 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Smith's Joe in the sector have low bargaining power. Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Smith's Joe to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Smith's Joe has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Smith's Joe to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Smith's Joe 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.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Smith's Joe 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 Smith's Joe in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Smith's Joe is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Smith's Joe has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Smith's Joe 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Smith's Joe 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C), it seems that the employees of Smith's Joe 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Smith's Joe 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. Smith's Joe 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Smith's Joe 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Smith's Joe is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Smith's Joe 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 - Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C), is just above the industry average. Smith's Joe 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Smith's Joe is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Smith's Joe needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Smith's Joe to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Smith's Joe, firm in the HBR case study Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) | 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Smith's Joe can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Smith's Joe 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 Smith's Joe to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Smith's Joe can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Smith's Joe in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communication segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Smith's Joe 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Smith's Joe 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Smith's Joe can develop new processes and procedures in Communication 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Smith's Joe 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. Smith's Joe 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Smith's Joe has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Smith's Joe to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) case study. Smith's Joe can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Smith's Joe 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
– Smith's Joe can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Smith's Joe can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Smith's Joe in the consumer business. Now Smith's Joe can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Smith's Joe 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 Smith's Joe in the Communication industry. The Communication 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.
Environmental challenges
– Smith's Joe 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. Smith's Joe can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
Increasing wage structure of Smith's Joe
– 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 Smith's Joe.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Smith's Joe can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Smith's Joe has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Smith's Joe needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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, Smith's Joe 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) .
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. Smith's Joe needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Smith's Joe will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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 Smith's Joe in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Smith's Joe 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Smith's Joe is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (C) 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 Smith's Joe needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
