Case Study Description of SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions
An intern at SC Johnson requested a meeting to discuss a new initiative he wanted to pursue after analyzing coupons for SC Johnson's Glade brand. The intern had identified a large variance in coupon redemption rates and coupon return metrics, and wanted to discuss the possibility of developing a better way to plan coupon promotions.
Swot Analysis of "SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions" written by Peter C. Bell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Coupon Sc facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Coupon Sc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Coupon Sc 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Coupon Sc
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 Coupon Sc
Strengths SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Coupon Sc in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Coupon Sc 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Coupon Sc has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Coupon Sc 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Coupon Sc is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Coupon Sc is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Coupon Sc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc 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.
Learning organization
- Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Coupon Sc is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Coupon Sc 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 Peter C. Bell 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Coupon Sc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Coupon Sc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions, in the dynamic environment Coupon Sc has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Coupon Sc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Coupon Sc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Coupon Sc needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions, is just above the industry average. Coupon Sc 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Coupon Sc 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Coupon Sc, firm in the HBR case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Coupon Sc 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter C. Bell suggests that, Coupon Sc 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 Coupon Sc 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 Coupon Sc has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Coupon Sc 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions HBR case study mentions - Coupon Sc 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.
Opportunities SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions | 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Coupon Sc 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Coupon Sc 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Coupon Sc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Coupon Sc to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions case study. Coupon Sc can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Coupon Sc 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, SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Coupon Sc can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Coupon Sc 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Coupon Sc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Coupon Sc 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Coupon Sc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Coupon Sc in the consumer business. Now Coupon Sc can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Coupon Sc can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Coupon Sc can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Threats SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Coupon Sc 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.
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 Coupon Sc in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Coupon Sc 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Coupon Sc is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Coupon Sc 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.
Environmental challenges
– Coupon Sc 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. Coupon Sc 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 Coupon Sc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Coupon Sc has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Coupon Sc 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions, Coupon Sc 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 SC Johnson: Planning Coupon Promotions 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 Coupon Sc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.