Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors
A partnership of two real estate agents want to increase their recognition in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace. Both partners had strong individual reputations, but they believed a campaign focused on their identity as a team would give them a competitive edge in the real estate business. A comprehensive marketing communications plan needed to be developed and implemented quickly as the market was poised for a period of growth in the coming months.
Swot Analysis of "Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors" written by Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Niki Healey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Poulopoulos Realtors facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Poulopoulos Realtors, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Poulopoulos Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Poulopoulos Realtors
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 Poulopoulos Realtors
Strengths Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Poulopoulos Realtors in Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Poulopoulos Realtors is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Poulopoulos Realtors digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Poulopoulos Realtors is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Poulopoulos Realtors to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Poulopoulos Realtors to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Poulopoulos Realtors in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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 Poulopoulos Realtors in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Poulopoulos Realtors has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
High brand equity
– Poulopoulos Realtors has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Poulopoulos Realtors to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Poulopoulos Realtors in the sector have low bargaining power. Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Poulopoulos Realtors to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Poulopoulos Realtors is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Poulopoulos Realtors needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Poulopoulos Realtors to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Poulopoulos Realtors is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Poulopoulos Realtors, firm in the HBR case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Poulopoulos Realtors has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors, is just above the industry average. Poulopoulos Realtors needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Niki Healey suggests that, Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors, in the dynamic environment Poulopoulos Realtors has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Poulopoulos Realtors has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors, it seems that the employees of Poulopoulos Realtors 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, Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Opportunities Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors | 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Poulopoulos Realtors 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, Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Poulopoulos Realtors in the consumer business. Now Poulopoulos Realtors can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Poulopoulos Realtors has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Poulopoulos Realtors to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors case study. Poulopoulos Realtors can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Poulopoulos Realtors can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Poulopoulos Realtors operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Poulopoulos Realtors can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Poulopoulos Realtors 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 Poulopoulos Realtors to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors, Poulopoulos Realtors 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Poulopoulos Realtors is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
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. Poulopoulos Realtors can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Poulopoulos Realtors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Poulopoulos Realtors with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Poulopoulos Realtors 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.
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 Poulopoulos Realtors 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 Poulopoulos Realtors in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Poulopoulos Realtors needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Costa Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson - Realtors 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 Poulopoulos Realtors needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.