Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry
Reggae music has swept the world. From its origins in Jamaica, it can now be heard in clubs and bars from Senegal to Samoa. It has also influenced music from other countries, such as American rap. In the late 1990s, annual sales of reggae recordings were estimated to be $1.2 billion, of which Jamaican musicians, producers, and songwriters earned about $300 million, plus another $50 million from live performances and ancillary product sales. Describes the evolution of Jamaican musical forms, the development of the country's music industry, and the industry's structure in the early 21st century; introduces the concept of industrial clusters--localized groups of firms that grow around a single industry and include all the necessary supporting companies required by the industry; and asks how industrial clusters provide benefits to participants, how they can be grown, and how a developing country can build an industry.
Swot Analysis of "Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry" written by John McMillan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reggae Music facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, Emerging markets and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing,
increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reggae Music, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reggae Music 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reggae Music
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 Reggae Music
Strengths Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reggae Music in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Reggae Music 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Reggae Music is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Reggae Music digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Reggae Music has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– Reggae Music 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 John McMillan 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.
Training and development
– Reggae Music has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Reggae Music 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 Reggae Music in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Reggae Music is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reggae Music 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.
Learning organization
- Reggae Music 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 Reggae Music is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Reggae Music is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Reggae Music in the sector have low bargaining power. Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Reggae Music to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John McMillan suggests that, Reggae Music 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Reggae Music 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry, is just above the industry average. Reggae Music 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Reggae Music 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, Reggae Music 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry, it seems that the employees of Reggae Music 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
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 Reggae Music supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Reggae Music vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Reggae Music is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Reggae Music needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Reggae Music to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Reggae Music has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry, in the dynamic environment Reggae Music has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Reggae Music has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry | 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Reggae Music 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Reggae Music to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Reggae Music 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Reggae Music can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reggae Music 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Reggae Music to increase its market reach. Reggae Music 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Reggae Music 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Reggae Music 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Reggae Music can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Reggae Music operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Reggae Music can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
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. Reggae Music can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Reggae Music in the consumer business. Now Reggae Music can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reggae Music has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reggae Music to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry case study. Reggae Music can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Reggae Music is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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.
Threats Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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.
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. Reggae Music 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Reggae Music 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. Reggae Music needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reggae Music has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reggae Music 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Reggae Music 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Reggae Music 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Reggae Music is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Reggae Music business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Reggae Music
– 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 Reggae Music.
Environmental challenges
– Reggae Music 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. Reggae Music can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Reggae Music.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Trench Town Rock: The Creation of Jamaica's Music Industry 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 Reggae Music needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.