Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B)
The electric guitar market is both enticing and daunting for a small company - a multi-billion $US sector that has grown almost constantly since the 1960s, but where competition is based as much on image as on substance. The market is naturally fragmented (similar to the market for many musical instruments), yet dominant players make entry and sustenance difficult. While Asian producers or branded imports dominate the low and mid-priced market, collectors and serious players seek high-end branded or handmade instruments that can be resold with only minor loss, if any. To augment collector value, high-end guitar manufacturers constantly modify components, making short-run series with unique features (often specified by "name" musicians and sold under their signature). For established brands, vintage instruments, and handmade instruments, used guitars may sell for their original purchase price or surprising multiples thereof; the value of some pieces increases after only ten years. From this standpoint, experienced buyers can make essentially risk-free purchases. The case tells the story of Joe Naylor, the owner-manager of Reverend Guitars, a small company that made a startling impact on the electric guitar market with a clever use of innovative products, innovative marketing and innovative use of the internet to a) leverage an existing community and b) build a new one.
Swot Analysis of "Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B)" written by Mark Hunter, David A. Soberman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Instruments Guitar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Instruments Guitar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Instruments Guitar 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Instruments Guitar
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 Instruments Guitar
Strengths Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Instruments Guitar in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Instruments Guitar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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
– Instruments Guitar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Instruments Guitar 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Instruments Guitar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Instruments Guitar
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Instruments Guitar does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Instruments Guitar 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Instruments Guitar in the sector have low bargaining power. Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Instruments Guitar to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Instruments Guitar is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Instruments Guitar 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 Instruments Guitar is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Instruments Guitar is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Instruments Guitar has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Instruments Guitar to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Instruments Guitar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) are -
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 Instruments Guitar supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Instruments Guitar vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Instruments Guitar 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. Instruments Guitar even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B), it seems that the employees of Instruments Guitar 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Instruments Guitar 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Instruments Guitar is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Instruments Guitar 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Instruments Guitar 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Instruments Guitar has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Instruments Guitar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Instruments Guitar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Instruments Guitar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Instruments Guitar 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.
Opportunities Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) | 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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. Instruments Guitar 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. Instruments Guitar 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Instruments Guitar 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Instruments Guitar 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Instruments Guitar has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Instruments Guitar to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) case study. Instruments Guitar can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Instruments Guitar can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Instruments Guitar is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Instruments Guitar 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Instruments Guitar 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Instruments Guitar 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, Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B), 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 Instruments Guitar 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 Instruments Guitar can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Instruments Guitar can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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
– Instruments Guitar 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Instruments Guitar to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Instruments Guitar 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Instruments Guitar 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
– Instruments Guitar 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. Instruments Guitar can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B), Instruments Guitar 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 .
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. Instruments Guitar 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Instruments Guitar 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Instruments Guitar 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. Instruments Guitar can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Instruments Guitar 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.
Increasing wage structure of Instruments Guitar
– 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 Instruments Guitar.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Instruments Guitar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Instruments Guitar 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Reverend Musical Instruments: Playing a Different Tune (B) 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 Instruments Guitar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
