Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A)
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), a branded and integrated content and media company dedicated to "elevating the role of the homemaker," went public on October 19, 1999, creating a company with a market value of $1.73 billion, and a stake for Stewart worth $1.2 billion. Aretha Jackson, president of a private investment firm, must counsel a client on whether to invest in MSLO--a precarious prospect in light of the steady downward plunge in MSLO stock performance since the IPO. Risks outlined in the company's S-1 filing also highlighted special concerns specific to the management of the "Person-Brand." Could the company outlive Stewart? What if Stewart's reputation or image was tarnished? How, exactly, did the reputation of Stewart affect the value of the brand? Jackson must understand what meanings Martha Stewart claimed, and for whom, while also coming to grips with the meaning-management principles that applied in "managing Martha," the person and the brand. From a cultural meaning-management point of view, the person-brand context is unique in that it must consider two significant sources of meaning, both of which must be managed: 1) the public (the brand face) and 2) the private (the person face). Also considers the special meaning-management issues involved with multivocality of the brand proposition: i.e., the embodiment of multiple, and perhaps conflicting, meanings within one brand for various consumer audiences. This is an important meaning-management theme as it involves MSLO's engagements with K-Mart and the formulation of future line extension ideas.
Authors :: Susan Fournier, Laura Winig, Kerry Herman, Andrea Wojnicki
Swot Analysis of "Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A)" written by Susan Fournier, Laura Winig, Kerry Herman, Andrea Wojnicki includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stewart Mslo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stewart Mslo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stewart Mslo 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stewart Mslo
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 Stewart Mslo
Strengths Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stewart Mslo in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Stewart Mslo 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Stewart Mslo
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stewart Mslo does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Stewart Mslo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Stewart Mslo 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Stewart Mslo in the sector have low bargaining power. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Stewart Mslo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Stewart Mslo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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
– Stewart Mslo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Stewart Mslo 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stewart Mslo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stewart Mslo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stewart Mslo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Stewart Mslo is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Stewart Mslo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Stewart Mslo 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 Susan Fournier, Laura Winig, Kerry Herman, Andrea Wojnicki can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) are -
Need for greater diversity
– Stewart Mslo 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A), is just above the industry average. Stewart Mslo 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A), in the dynamic environment Stewart Mslo has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Stewart Mslo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stewart Mslo 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, Susan Fournier, Laura Winig, Kerry Herman, Andrea Wojnicki suggests that, Stewart Mslo 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Stewart Mslo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stewart Mslo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stewart Mslo, firm in the HBR case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stewart Mslo 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Stewart Mslo 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 - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stewart Mslo is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Stewart Mslo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) | 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Stewart Mslo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Stewart Mslo 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Stewart Mslo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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.
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 Stewart Mslo in the consumer business. Now Stewart Mslo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Stewart Mslo 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stewart Mslo 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Stewart Mslo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stewart Mslo 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 Stewart Mslo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Stewart Mslo 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. Stewart Mslo 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stewart Mslo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Stewart Mslo 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stewart Mslo 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stewart Mslo 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.
Threats Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stewart Mslo 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 Stewart Mslo 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stewart Mslo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stewart Mslo 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.
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. Stewart Mslo 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.
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 Stewart Mslo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stewart Mslo 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.
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. Stewart Mslo can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A), Stewart Mslo 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stewart Mslo 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stewart Mslo 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) .
Increasing wage structure of Stewart Mslo
– 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 Stewart Mslo.
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 Stewart Mslo.
Regulatory challenges
– Stewart Mslo 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (A) 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 Stewart Mslo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
