Case Study Description of Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving
Porsche Canada wants to encourage their Canadian customers to drive their cars in winter. The prize is increased sales of cars (by consumers currently unwilling to buy a Porsche only for summer driving) and winter accessories, such as snow tires. This is a three-fold challenge because Canadians generally believe that luxury vehicles should not be driven in winter due to to ice and salt; that sports cars generally performed poorly in winter conditions; and it was unwise to drive a luxury car in winter where it could be more easily scratched or damaged.
Swot Analysis of "Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving" written by Ken Mark, Dante Pirouz includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Winter Porsche facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Winter Porsche, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Winter Porsche 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Winter Porsche
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Winter Porsche
Strengths Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Winter Porsche in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Winter Porsche 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
– Winter Porsche 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 Ken Mark, Dante Pirouz 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.
Learning organization
- Winter Porsche 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 Winter Porsche is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Winter Porsche
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Winter Porsche does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Winter Porsche is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Winter Porsche 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving - 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 recruit top talent
– Winter Porsche is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Winter Porsche 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Winter Porsche is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Winter Porsche 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 Winter Porsche in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Winter Porsche has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Winter Porsche 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.
Training and development
– Winter Porsche has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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.
Weaknesses Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Winter Porsche 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 - Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Winter Porsche is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Winter Porsche needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Winter Porsche to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, in the dynamic environment Winter Porsche has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Winter Porsche 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, Winter Porsche 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. Winter Porsche 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, Winter Porsche 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Winter Porsche is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Winter Porsche 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 Winter Porsche products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Winter Porsche needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Winter Porsche has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Winter Porsche is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving | 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving are -
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. Winter Porsche can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Winter Porsche 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Winter Porsche 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. Winter Porsche 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Winter Porsche can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Winter Porsche has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Winter Porsche to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving case study. Winter Porsche can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Winter Porsche can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Winter Porsche can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Winter Porsche operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Winter Porsche 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Winter Porsche 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 Winter Porsche to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Winter Porsche to increase its market reach. Winter Porsche 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
– Winter Porsche 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Winter Porsche 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Winter Porsche can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Winter Porsche 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Winter Porsche 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.
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 Winter Porsche business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Winter Porsche in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Winter Porsche 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Winter Porsche can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Winter Porsche 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.
Increasing wage structure of Winter Porsche
– 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 Winter Porsche.
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 Winter Porsche.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Winter Porsche with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Winter Porsche is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Winter Porsche 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. Winter Porsche can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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 Winter Porsche needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
