Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy
Miranda Cresswell, marketing director, and Greg Marsh, founder and CEO of onefinestay, were grappling with branding and positioning dilemmas. onefinestay offered high-end home rentals to travelers who sought a more authentic and local experience than a typical upscale hotel might provide. onefinestay's brand had been "hacked" together quickly during the company's early years. After five years of rapid growth, Marsh brought Cresswell on board to do a comprehensive analysis of the company's brand and its positioning in the marketplace. Cresswell had spent several months gathering data and insights, and was starting to experiment with use case scenarios that took a crack at segmenting the company's customers. The preliminary results were interesting, but raised more questions than they answered, and Cresswell wondered if this was the best way to segment the market. While segmenting in this way was intriguing, it led to a branding challenge-as a start-up, it was difficult for onefinestay to have the resources to support multiple brand messages in the marketplace and different segments wanted different things from their travel experience. She pondered whether there were other ways to group customers that would allow for a more universal positioning for the brand or whether the company needed to focus on one or two segments to serve. Positioning the fledgling brand was a challenge. Who was the company competing against and how could it carve out a unique value proposition that would appeal to travelers and be differentiated from what was offered by other hospitality options? Was its current moniker "the unhotel" working for or against it? This case includes the topic of luxury.
Swot Analysis of "Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy" written by Jill Avery, Anat Keinan, Liz Kind includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cresswell Onefinestay facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customer service, Disruptive innovation, Entrepreneurship, Public relations and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cresswell Onefinestay, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cresswell Onefinestay
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 Cresswell Onefinestay
Strengths Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cresswell Onefinestay in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Cresswell Onefinestay in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cresswell Onefinestay in the sector have low bargaining power. Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cresswell Onefinestay to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cresswell Onefinestay is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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.
Learning organization
- Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Cresswell Onefinestay is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cresswell Onefinestay has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cresswell Onefinestay 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 recruit top talent
– Cresswell Onefinestay is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cresswell Onefinestay in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cresswell Onefinestay is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Cresswell Onefinestay has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cresswell Onefinestay products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cresswell Onefinestay needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy, is just above the industry average. Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cresswell Onefinestay is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Cresswell Onefinestay needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cresswell Onefinestay to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cresswell Onefinestay 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. Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Cresswell Onefinestay 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy | 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy are -
Manufacturing automation
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cresswell Onefinestay in the consumer business. Now Cresswell Onefinestay can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cresswell Onefinestay has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cresswell Onefinestay to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy case study. Cresswell Onefinestay can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cresswell Onefinestay 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, Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cresswell Onefinestay to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cresswell Onefinestay to increase its market reach. Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
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. Cresswell Onefinestay can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
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. Cresswell Onefinestay 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, Cresswell Onefinestay can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cresswell Onefinestay operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Threats Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Cresswell Onefinestay demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Cresswell Onefinestay needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cresswell Onefinestay has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cresswell Onefinestay 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 Cresswell Onefinestay 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
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
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 Cresswell Onefinestay business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Cresswell Onefinestay 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. Cresswell Onefinestay can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Cresswell Onefinestay
– 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 Cresswell Onefinestay.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy, Cresswell Onefinestay 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cresswell Onefinestay 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy 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 Cresswell Onefinestay needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.