Case Study Description of Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting
The newly promoted inventory manager wonders if there is an easier, more reliable means of forecasting sales demand. Currently, forecasts are based on the plant manager's, sales/marketing manager's, and inventory manager's knowledge of industry trends, competitive strategies, and sales history. The inventory manager must decide if using statistical forecasting methods would ease the forecasting process and make the forecasts more reliable. Students are exposed to different forecasting techniques, including executive opinion, linear regression, and time series. The data characteristics include seasonality, trend, and random fluctuations.
Swot Analysis of "Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting" written by Carol Prahinski, Eric Olsen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Forecasting Manager's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Forecasting, Managing uncertainty, Manufacturing, Strategic planning and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Forecasting Manager's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Forecasting Manager's
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 Forecasting Manager's
Strengths Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Forecasting Manager's in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Forecasting Manager's 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 Forecasting Manager's 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 Forecasting Manager's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Forecasting Manager's 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 Forecasting Manager's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Forecasting Manager's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Forecasting Manager's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Forecasting Manager's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Forecasting Manager's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Forecasting Manager's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Forecasting Manager's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Forecasting Manager's in the sector have low bargaining power. Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Forecasting Manager's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Forecasting Manager's 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.
Weaknesses Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Forecasting Manager's 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. Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting, it seems that the employees of Forecasting Manager's 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting, is just above the industry average. Forecasting Manager's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Forecasting Manager's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Forecasting Manager's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Forecasting Manager's 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, Forecasting Manager's 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
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Forecasting Manager's 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Carol Prahinski, Eric Olsen suggests that, Forecasting Manager's 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Forecasting Manager's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Forecasting Manager's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting | 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Forecasting Manager's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Forecasting Manager's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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.
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. Forecasting Manager's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Forecasting Manager's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Forecasting Manager's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Forecasting Manager's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Forecasting Manager's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Forecasting Manager's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting case study. Forecasting Manager's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Forecasting Manager's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Forecasting Manager's 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 Forecasting Manager's 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 Forecasting Manager's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
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. Forecasting Manager's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Forecasting Manager's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Forecasting Manager's 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.
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 Forecasting Manager's.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Forecasting Manager's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Forecasting Manager's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Forecasting Manager's is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Forecasting Manager's 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting .
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 Forecasting Manager's in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
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. Forecasting Manager's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Forecasting Manager's 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.
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. Forecasting Manager's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Forecasting Manager's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting 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 Forecasting Manager's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.