Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary
What was the role of the Internet in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Senators Obama and Clinton? How does the role change in the shift from the Primary to the National election? The case examines media and content choices by each candidate, and allows students to explore the role of new media in political campaigns. The focus is on fundraising in 2007 and campaigning for Primary delegate votes in 2008.
Swot Analysis of "Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary" written by John Deighton, Leora Kornfeld includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clinton Obama facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, Knowledge management, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clinton Obama, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clinton Obama 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clinton Obama
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 Clinton Obama
Strengths Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clinton Obama in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Clinton Obama 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 Clinton Obama is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Clinton Obama has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Clinton Obama to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Clinton Obama is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clinton Obama to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clinton Obama to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Clinton Obama is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clinton Obama 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Clinton Obama digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Clinton Obama 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Clinton Obama 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.
Analytics focus
– Clinton Obama 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 John Deighton, Leora Kornfeld 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.
Training and development
– Clinton Obama has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Clinton Obama has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Clinton Obama 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.
Weaknesses Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Clinton Obama 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 - Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Clinton Obama 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. Clinton Obama 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Clinton Obama is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Clinton Obama, firm in the HBR case study Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Clinton Obama is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Clinton Obama needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Clinton Obama to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clinton Obama products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clinton Obama needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John Deighton, Leora Kornfeld suggests that, Clinton Obama 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 Clinton Obama supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Clinton Obama vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary HBR case study mentions - Clinton Obama 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Clinton Obama has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary, is just above the industry average. Clinton Obama 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.
Opportunities Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary | 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clinton Obama to increase its market reach. Clinton Obama 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Clinton Obama 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Clinton Obama 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 Clinton Obama to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Clinton Obama 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, Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Clinton Obama can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clinton Obama operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clinton Obama 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Clinton Obama 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Clinton Obama 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Clinton Obama can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Clinton Obama 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.
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. Clinton Obama 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. Clinton Obama 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clinton Obama 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clinton Obama to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Clinton Obama in the consumer business. Now Clinton Obama can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary are -
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 Clinton Obama in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Clinton Obama will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Clinton Obama 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Clinton Obama business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Clinton Obama 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 wage structure of Clinton Obama
– 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 Clinton Obama.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clinton Obama has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clinton Obama 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Clinton Obama 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary .
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 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Clinton Obama 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Clinton Obama 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.
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. Clinton Obama can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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 Obama versus Clinton: The YouTube Primary 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 Clinton Obama needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
