New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand
In March 1998, Hongkong Telecom's Interactive Multimedia Services (IMS) unit launched the world's first commercial Video-on-Demand (VOD) system. Worldwide interest resulted from the implementation of the world's first commercial VOD system--an expensive high-technology service for which consumer demand had yet to be proven--and from the launching of the first generation of interactive television (iTV) systems. In taking the new technology to market, how was IMS to go about generating demand for the service, and how could they forecast technological adoption rates in the market? What was the role of the government in regulating the new business environment? And what issues were associated with such large and long-term capital investments?
Swot Analysis of "New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand" written by Peter Lovelock includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ims Hongkong facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ims Hongkong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ims Hongkong 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ims Hongkong
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 Ims Hongkong
Strengths New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ims Hongkong in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Ims Hongkong has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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.
Learning organization
- Ims Hongkong 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 Ims Hongkong is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Ims Hongkong
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ims Hongkong does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ims Hongkong 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ims Hongkong to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ims Hongkong to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ims Hongkong in the sector have low bargaining power. New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ims Hongkong to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ims Hongkong in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ims Hongkong 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ims Hongkong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ims Hongkong 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ims Hongkong is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ims Hongkong is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter Lovelock suggests that, Ims Hongkong 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, is just above the industry average. Ims Hongkong 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 Ims Hongkong 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, in the dynamic environment Ims Hongkong has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ims Hongkong has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, it seems that the employees of Ims Hongkong 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ims Hongkong is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand HBR case study mentions - Ims Hongkong 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.
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 Ims Hongkong supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ims Hongkong vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ims Hongkong 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ims Hongkong 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ims Hongkong 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.
Opportunities New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand | 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand are -
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. Ims Hongkong 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. Ims Hongkong 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ims Hongkong can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 Ims Hongkong has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ims Hongkong to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand case study. Ims Hongkong can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Ims Hongkong to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ims Hongkong to increase its market reach. Ims Hongkong 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ims Hongkong 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ims Hongkong 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ims Hongkong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ims Hongkong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ims Hongkong 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ims Hongkong is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ims Hongkong 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, New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, 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 Ims Hongkong 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 Ims Hongkong can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand, Ims Hongkong 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 .
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. Ims Hongkong can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Ims Hongkong 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ims Hongkong 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand .
Increasing wage structure of Ims Hongkong
– 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 Ims Hongkong.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ims Hongkong 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.
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 Ims Hongkong in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ims Hongkong 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ims Hongkong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ims Hongkong 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.
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. Ims Hongkong needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Ims Hongkong 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. Ims Hongkong can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ims Hongkong 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 New Technologies, New Markets: The Launch of Hongkong Telecom's Video-on-Demand 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 Ims Hongkong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.