Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign
This case discusses the future of the Dove brand and what type of advertising it should use moving forward. The brand has previously launched the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, which focuses on widening the definition of beauty. Students are given the history of the campaign and are asked to assess various options for the Dove brand.
Authors :: Matthew Thomson, Emily Goldberg, Ben Gottlieb, Samantha Landy
Swot Analysis of "Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign" written by Matthew Thomson, Emily Goldberg, Ben Gottlieb, Samantha Landy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dove Beauty facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dove Beauty, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dove Beauty 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dove Beauty
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 Dove Beauty
Strengths Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dove Beauty in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dove Beauty in the sector have low bargaining power. Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dove Beauty to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Dove Beauty 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 Dove Beauty is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Dove Beauty
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dove Beauty does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Dove Beauty has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Dove Beauty to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dove Beauty is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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)
– Dove Beauty 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dove Beauty 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dove Beauty to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dove Beauty to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Dove Beauty has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dove Beauty is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Dove Beauty 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 Matthew Thomson, Emily Goldberg, Ben Gottlieb, Samantha Landy 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.
Weaknesses Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign, is just above the industry average. Dove Beauty 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dove Beauty 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 - Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign HBR case study mentions - Dove Beauty takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Dove Beauty is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign, in the dynamic environment Dove Beauty has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dove Beauty has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dove Beauty is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Dove Beauty needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dove Beauty to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dove Beauty products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dove Beauty needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Beauty has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Dove Beauty supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dove Beauty vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dove Beauty, firm in the HBR case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Beauty 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign | 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign are -
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. Dove Beauty can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dove Beauty can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dove Beauty 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.
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 Dove Beauty in the consumer business. Now Dove Beauty can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dove Beauty 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dove Beauty 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dove Beauty to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dove Beauty 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 Dove Beauty to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Dove Beauty can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dove Beauty has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dove Beauty to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign case study. Dove Beauty can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Dove Beauty 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dove Beauty is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dove Beauty 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dove Beauty 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dove Beauty 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dove Beauty 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 Dove Beauty 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.
Environmental challenges
– Dove Beauty 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. Dove Beauty can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dove Beauty with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Dove Beauty.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign, Dove Beauty 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
– Dove Beauty has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dove Beauty 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Dove Beauty 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.
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. Dove Beauty needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dove Beauty 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign 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 Dove Beauty needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
