Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface?
When the colors of all the U.S. armed services' uniforms are combined, the color purple appears; therefore, military insiders refer to inter-service operations as "purple" operations. Now a core concept, the "jointness" of U.S. military strategic response to a critical operational failure encapsulates principles and processes through which two or more armed services are best able to integrate strategies, strengths, and capabilities in ways that yield genuine synergies, despite the differences in mission and culture that naturally separate the services. The now ingrained ability of military services to "go purple" quickly has materially contributed to strategic and operational successes during the last 20 years. The internal circumstances as well as global environmental challenges faced by domestic firms, particularly at the marketing-manufacturing (M-M) interface, resonate with those faced by the U.S. military. Firms may benefit from evaluating the prospect of "going purple" at this crucial point of interface. This article integrates military-like jointness principles into an organizational framework that functions as a guide to pursuing cross-functional M-M integration more successfully. The framework also provides a methodology through which managers can determine whether and how much "purple" ought to be pursued. a??a??a??a??a??
Swot Analysis of "Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface?" written by Matthew A. Douglas, David Strutton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Purple Military facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Purple Military, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Purple Military 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Purple Military
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 Purple Military
Strengths Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Purple Military in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Purple Military 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.
Training and development
– Purple Military has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Purple Military in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Purple Military 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.
Analytics focus
– Purple Military 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 Matthew A. Douglas, David Strutton 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Purple Military 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Purple Military 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 Purple Military is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Purple Military 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 Purple Military in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Purple Military digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Purple Military 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.
Organizational Resilience of Purple Military
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Purple Military does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Purple Military has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Purple Military 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Purple Military is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface?, in the dynamic environment Purple Military has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Purple Military has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Purple Military 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. Purple Military 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Purple Military 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Purple Military 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Purple Military products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Purple Military needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Purple Military 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Purple Military needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Purple Military has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Purple Military 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 - Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Purple Military is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? | 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? are -
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 Purple Military 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Purple Military to increase its market reach. Purple Military will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
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. Purple Military can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Purple Military 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. Purple Military can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Purple Military 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Purple Military can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Purple Military 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Purple Military 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Purple Military is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Purple Military can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Purple Military has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Purple Military to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? case study. Purple Military can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Purple Military 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. Purple Military 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.
Threats Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? are -
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. Purple Military 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Purple Military 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Purple Military with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Purple Military.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Purple Military 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? .
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. Purple Military can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Purple Military in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Purple Military
– 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 Purple Military.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Purple Military 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.
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. Purple Military needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Purple Military 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Going "Purple": Can Military Jointness Principles Provide a Key to More Successful Integration at the Marketing-Manufacturing Interface? 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 Purple Military needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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