Case Study Description of EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand
Well-established fashion brand Eileen Fisher has traditionally appealed to older women. However, to drive growth, Eileen Fisher's management team wants to target a younger demographic and has revamped its Fall product line to offer more fashionable styles to appeal to younger women. But, repositioning the brand has proven to be harder than expected. This case explores the challenges of appealing to new target markets, without alienating existing customers. The case follows Eileen Fisher's initial forays into social media as they chase a younger demographic, and demonstrates the opportunities and pitfalls that await big brands when they enter the world of Web 2.0.
Authors :: Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, Fiona Wilson, Michael I. Norton
Topics :: Sales & Marketing
Tags :: Collaboration, Competition, Corporate communications, Social enterprise, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Strategy execution, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand" written by Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, Fiona Wilson, Michael I. Norton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eileen Fisher's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Collaboration, Competition, Corporate communications, Social enterprise, Social platforms, Social responsibility, Strategy execution and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eileen Fisher's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eileen Fisher's 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eileen Fisher's
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 Eileen Fisher's
Strengths EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eileen Fisher's in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Eileen Fisher's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Eileen Fisher's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Eileen Fisher's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Eileen Fisher's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Eileen Fisher's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eileen Fisher's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eileen Fisher's 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eileen Fisher's 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
– Eileen Fisher's 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 Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, Fiona Wilson, Michael I. Norton 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Eileen Fisher's 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Eileen Fisher's 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 Eileen Fisher's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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
– Eileen Fisher's 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Eileen Fisher's in the sector have low bargaining power. EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Eileen Fisher's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eileen Fisher's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eileen Fisher's 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.
Weaknesses EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Eileen Fisher's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Eileen Fisher's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Eileen Fisher's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Eileen Fisher's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Eileen Fisher's 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, Fiona Wilson, Michael I. Norton suggests that, Eileen Fisher's 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 Eileen Fisher's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Eileen Fisher's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Eileen Fisher's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Eileen Fisher's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand, in the dynamic environment Eileen Fisher's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Eileen Fisher's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 Eileen Fisher's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Eileen Fisher's 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. Eileen Fisher's 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Eileen Fisher's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand, 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.
Opportunities EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand | 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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. Eileen Fisher's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Eileen Fisher's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eileen Fisher's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Eileen Fisher's 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 Eileen Fisher's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Eileen Fisher's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Eileen Fisher's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eileen Fisher's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Eileen Fisher's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Eileen Fisher's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand case study. Eileen Fisher's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eileen Fisher's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Eileen Fisher's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Eileen Fisher's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Eileen Fisher's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Eileen Fisher's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Eileen Fisher's 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.
Threats EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand are -
Regulatory challenges
– Eileen Fisher's needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Eileen Fisher's 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand .
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.
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 Eileen Fisher's in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Eileen Fisher's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand, Eileen Fisher's 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 .
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.
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. Eileen Fisher's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Eileen Fisher's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eileen Fisher's is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Eileen Fisher's
– 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 Eileen Fisher's.
Environmental challenges
– Eileen Fisher's 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. Eileen Fisher's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Eileen Fisher's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand 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 Eileen Fisher's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
