D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop
The owner of a small home and garden shop in Chaguanas, Trinidad is faced with declining sales and the recent entry of a competitor offering similar products at competitive prices. In order to compete, he is thinking of moving to a larger location and expanding his business to capitalize on emerging opportunities, such as the demand for landscaping services by wealthy professionals. He is uncertain how his current customers would react to such a move and is considering what kind of marketing activities he should engage in to ensure the business's long-term survival.
Swot Analysis of "D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop" written by Barney G. Pacheco includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Garden Shop facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Garden Shop, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Garden Shop
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 Garden Shop
Strengths D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Garden Shop in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Garden Shop has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Garden Shop to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Garden Shop to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Garden Shop to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Garden Shop is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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)
– Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Garden Shop 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Garden Shop 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 Garden Shop is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Garden Shop 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Garden Shop in the sector have low bargaining power. D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Garden Shop to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Garden Shop 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 Garden Shop in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Garden Shop has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Garden Shop is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Garden Shop needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Garden Shop to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Garden Shop has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 Garden Shop 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Garden Shop 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. Garden Shop 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop, it seems that the employees of Garden Shop 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Garden Shop is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop HBR case study mentions - Garden Shop takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Garden Shop products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Garden Shop needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Garden Shop 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Garden Shop 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.
Opportunities D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop | 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Garden Shop to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Garden Shop 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Garden Shop 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Garden Shop 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Garden Shop 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 Garden Shop to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Garden Shop in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Garden Shop can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Garden Shop 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. Garden Shop can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Garden Shop can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Garden Shop operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Garden Shop can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Garden Shop can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Garden Shop is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop are -
Regulatory challenges
– Garden Shop 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.
Environmental challenges
– Garden Shop 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. Garden Shop can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Garden Shop 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Garden Shop has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Garden Shop 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.
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 Garden Shop in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Garden Shop
– 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 Garden Shop.
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. Garden Shop can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop, Garden Shop 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 .
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 Garden Shop business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Garden Shop with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Garden Shop in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Garden Shop is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Garden Shop 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 D-Bamboo Home and Garden Shop 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 Garden Shop needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.