Case Study Description of The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries
The U.S. presidential primary elections represent an especially challenging decision context. The four candidates in the 2012 Florida Republican primary, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, all have strengths and weakness in the eyes of a Republican primary voter. In this case, these qualities are illustrated by the candidates' statements and their reported actions during the campaign. The Republican primary voter must use the information given to decide which candidate to support. Furthermore, in a typical business or political decision, a person chooses on the basis of his or her personal preference. In a primary election, however, voters are advised to take into account the candidate they think can win the later presidential election, which greatly complicates the decision-making process.
Swot Analysis of "The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries" written by Neil Bendle includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Republican Primary facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Republican Primary, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Republican Primary 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Republican Primary
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 Republican Primary
Strengths The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Republican Primary in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Republican Primary 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Republican Primary
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Republican Primary does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Republican Primary is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Republican Primary 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 Republican Primary in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Republican Primary in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Republican Primary in the sector have low bargaining power. The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Republican Primary to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Republican Primary has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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.
Analytics focus
– Republican Primary 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 Neil Bendle 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Republican Primary 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Republican Primary 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
- Republican Primary 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 Republican Primary is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Republican Primary to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Republican Primary to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Republican Primary 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Republican Primary, firm in the HBR case study The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Republican Primary 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 - The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Republican Primary products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Republican Primary needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Republican Primary 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Neil Bendle suggests that, Republican Primary 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Republican Primary is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Republican Primary needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Republican Primary to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Republican Primary has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Republican Primary 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries, in the dynamic environment Republican Primary has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Republican Primary 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Republican Primary is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries | 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries are -
Loyalty marketing
– Republican Primary 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Republican Primary 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Republican Primary 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Republican Primary 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Republican Primary to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– Republican Primary 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Republican Primary 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Republican Primary 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Republican Primary can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Republican Primary 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Republican Primary 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, Republican Primary 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, The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Republican Primary can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Republican Primary 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 Republican Primary to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries are -
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 Republican Primary business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Republican Primary needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Republican Primary 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Republican Primary is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Republican Primary 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Republican Primary 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries, Republican Primary 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 .
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 Republican Primary.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Republican Primary 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Republican Primary 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Republican Primary has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Republican Primary 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Republican Primary
– 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 Republican Primary.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 The 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries 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 Republican Primary needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
