The Eleganzia Group SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Eleganzia Group
Eleganzia Group management faces tough decisions heading into the summer of 2010. With tourism on the decline due to the global economic recession, General Manager Giannuzzi must decide how to set prices at the Forte Village Resort, the Group's most well-known property. His management team is further divided on whether the pricing model at the resort should change to being all-inclusive (as opposed to one where guests are charged for each additional activity or dining option on a pay-as-you-go basis), and whether to convert a large number of the 4-star rooms into 5-star suites. Recently acquired properties, such as the Castel Monastero in Tuscany and the Maddalena Hotel & Yacht Club in north Sardinia, pose a branding challenge. Can all the properties, including the Forte Village, be successfully brought under one umbrella brand, namely, Eleganzia? Moreover, what should the character of each these new properties be?
Authors :: Elie Ofek, Elena Corsi, Bharat Sajnani, Sorina Casian-Botez
Swot Analysis of "The Eleganzia Group" written by Elie Ofek, Elena Corsi, Bharat Sajnani, Sorina Casian-Botez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eleganzia Forte facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Eleganzia Group case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Eleganzia Group casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Eleganzia Group
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Eleganzia Group case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eleganzia Forte, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eleganzia Forte 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 Eleganzia Group can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Eleganzia Group case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eleganzia Forte
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 Eleganzia Forte
Strengths The Eleganzia Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eleganzia Forte in The Eleganzia Group Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Eleganzia Forte is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Eleganzia Group 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Eleganzia Forte is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Forte in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eleganzia Forte 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.
Organizational Resilience of Eleganzia Forte
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Eleganzia Forte does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Eleganzia Forte is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Eleganzia Forte is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Eleganzia Group Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eleganzia Forte digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eleganzia Forte 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– The Eleganzia Group firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Eleganzia Forte to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Eleganzia Forte to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Eleganzia Forte has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Eleganzia Group 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Eleganzia Forte 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 Eleganzia Group HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Eleganzia Forte has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Eleganzia Forte to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses The Eleganzia Group | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Eleganzia Group are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Eleganzia Forte 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Group can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eleganzia Forte is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Eleganzia Forte 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. Eleganzia Forte 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, Eleganzia Forte 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Eleganzia Forte 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Eleganzia Forte 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Eleganzia Forte products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Eleganzia Forte needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Eleganzia Forte is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Eleganzia Forte needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Eleganzia Forte to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Eleganzia Forte 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 Eleganzia Group should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Eleganzia Forte 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Eleganzia Group, 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.
Opportunities The Eleganzia Group | 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 Eleganzia Group are -
Buying journey improvements
– Eleganzia Forte can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Eleganzia Group 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.
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. Eleganzia Forte can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eleganzia Forte is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Eleganzia Group 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Eleganzia Forte to increase its market reach. Eleganzia Forte 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Eleganzia Forte can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eleganzia Forte 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Eleganzia Forte 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Eleganzia Forte can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Eleganzia Forte operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eleganzia Forte 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Eleganzia Forte 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 Eleganzia Forte 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 Eleganzia Forte to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Eleganzia Forte has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Eleganzia Forte to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Eleganzia Group case study. Eleganzia Forte can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Eleganzia Forte can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats The Eleganzia Group External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Eleganzia Group are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Eleganzia Forte 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 The Eleganzia Group .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Eleganzia Forte 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eleganzia Forte 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. Eleganzia Forte needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Eleganzia Group, Eleganzia Forte 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Eleganzia Forte has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Eleganzia Forte 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.
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 Eleganzia Forte.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Eleganzia Forte with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Eleganzia Forte 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. Eleganzia Forte can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Increasing wage structure of Eleganzia Forte
– 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 Eleganzia Forte.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eleganzia Forte is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Eleganzia Forte in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Eleganzia Forte 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Group 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 Eleganzia Forte needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.