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Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

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.

Authors :: Ken Mark, Dante Pirouz

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

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 - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc



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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 -

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.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Winter Porsche digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Winter Porsche 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

– 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Winter Porsche in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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.

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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Winter Porsche 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.

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.

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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Winter Porsche in the sector have low bargaining power. Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Winter Porsche to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Innovation driven organization

– Winter Porsche is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

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.



02468Du Pont: Corporate Advertising for 1992 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy, Epilogue BP in Russia: Bad Partners or Bad Partnerships? (A) Fairmount Minerals d.light design Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving
Net Promoter Score



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 -

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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, is just above the industry average. Winter Porsche 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, it seems that the employees of Winter Porsche 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Winter Porsche, firm in the HBR case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

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.

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.

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 Winter Porsche supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Winter Porsche vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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.

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.

Need for greater diversity

– Winter Porsche has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

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.




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 -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Winter Porsche 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Winter Porsche is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving 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.

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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Winter Porsche 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Winter Porsche to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Winter Porsche can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.

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.

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.




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 -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Winter Porsche 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 Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving .

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. Winter Porsche 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Porsche Canada: Selling Winter Driving, Winter Porsche may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Winter Porsche has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Winter Porsche needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.




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.



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