Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion
Blinds To Go is a manufacturer and retailer of customized window coverings. The company has been steadily expanding the number of stores across North America. The vice-chairman is concerned with the lack of staff in some of these newly expanded stores. With plans of an initial public offering within the next two years, senior management must determine what changes need to be made to the recruitment strategy and how to develop staff that will help them achieve the company's growth objectives.
Authors :: Fernando Olivera, Ann C. Frost, Ken Mark
Swot Analysis of "Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion" written by Fernando Olivera, Ann C. Frost, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Blinds Coverings facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IPO, Organizational culture, Strategy execution, Talent management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Blinds Coverings, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Blinds Coverings
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 Blinds Coverings
Strengths Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Blinds Coverings in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Blinds Coverings in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds Coverings is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Blinds Coverings has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Blinds Coverings to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds Coverings in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Blinds Coverings
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Blinds Coverings does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Blinds Coverings in the sector have low bargaining power. Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Blinds Coverings to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Blinds Coverings is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Blinds Coverings 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Blinds Coverings digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Blinds Coverings 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.
Training and development
– Blinds Coverings has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Blinds Coverings has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Blinds Coverings 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.
Weaknesses Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Blinds Coverings 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. Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds Coverings 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion HBR case study mentions - Blinds Coverings 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion, it seems that the employees of Blinds Coverings 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Blinds Coverings 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Blinds Coverings is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Blinds Coverings supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Blinds Coverings vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds Coverings has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Fernando Olivera, Ann C. Frost, Ken Mark suggests that, Blinds Coverings 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Blinds Coverings 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 - Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion | 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Blinds Coverings 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Blinds Coverings to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Blinds Coverings 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 Blinds Coverings in the consumer business. Now Blinds Coverings can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Blinds Coverings 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Blinds Coverings can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
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. Blinds Coverings can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Blinds Coverings 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Blinds Coverings 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Blinds Coverings 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Blinds Coverings can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Blinds Coverings can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Blinds Coverings operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Blinds Coverings has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Blinds Coverings to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion case study. Blinds Coverings can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion are -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Blinds Coverings 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Blinds Coverings 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.
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. Blinds Coverings can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Blinds Coverings 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.
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. Blinds Coverings 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.
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 Blinds Coverings business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Blinds Coverings
– 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 Blinds Coverings.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Blinds Coverings has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Blinds Coverings 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion, Blinds Coverings may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
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. Blinds Coverings needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Blinds Coverings with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds To Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion 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 Blinds Coverings needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.