Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market
When students have the English-language PDF of this Brief Case in a coursepack, they will also have the option to purchase an audio version.In the wake of slumping sales and sagging profit margins, a leading manufacturer and retailer of high-end women's apparel, Harrington Collection, must evaluate an opportunity to expand into the high-growth active-wear market. Sara Huey, Vice President of Strategic Planning, calls on two of her colleagues to help perform a comprehensive market evaluation. They must analyze the financial implications of the opportunity, assess trade and competitor reactions, consider the risks, and determine whether the Vigor division of the company will be able to successfully launch and manage the new product line.
Swot Analysis of "Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market" written by Richard S. Tedlow, Heather Beckham includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Harrington Wear facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Growth strategy, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harrington Wear, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harrington Wear
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 Harrington Wear
Strengths Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Harrington Wear in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Harrington Wear in the sector have low bargaining power. Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Harrington Wear to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Harrington Wear
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Harrington Wear does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Harrington Wear has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Harrington Wear is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Harrington Wear 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 Richard S. Tedlow, Heather Beckham 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Wear in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Harrington Wear digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Harrington Wear 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Harrington Wear in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harrington Wear to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harrington Wear to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Wear is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Harrington Wear is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Harrington Wear needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Harrington Wear to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Harrington Wear 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Harrington Wear 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, in the dynamic environment Harrington Wear has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Harrington Wear has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Harrington Wear supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Harrington Wear vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Harrington Wear 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Harrington Wear 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, is just above the industry average. Harrington Wear 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Wear has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market HBR case study mentions - Harrington Wear takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Opportunities Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market | 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Harrington Wear can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Harrington Wear operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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 Harrington Wear in the consumer business. Now Harrington Wear can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Harrington Wear to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Harrington Wear can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Wear to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Harrington Wear 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
– Harrington Wear 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Harrington Wear is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Harrington Wear 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, Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, 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 Harrington Wear 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Harrington Wear 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Harrington Wear to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Harrington Wear has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Harrington Wear to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market case study. Harrington Wear can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Harrington Wear 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.
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. Harrington Wear 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 Harrington Wear.
Regulatory challenges
– Harrington Wear 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.
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 Harrington Wear 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. Harrington Wear needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Harrington Wear 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Harrington Wear with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market, Harrington Wear 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 .
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 Harrington Wear business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Harrington Wear 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market 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 Harrington Wear needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.