UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0
This case introduces emerging Web 2.0 social media in virtual worlds, social networking sites, and video sharing sites, and encourages students to explore the opportunities and risks they present for brands. The case allows students to grapple with the strategic and tactical decisions that accompany marketing communications strategy and to combine information on consumer behavior with an understanding of brand objectives, in order to assess and evaluate new social media options. Brand manager Margaret Foley is facing an increasingly complex media environment in which her traditional media plan, focused on television, print, and radio advertising, has become less effective due to declining audiences, increased advertising clutter, and consumers tuning out. She is exploring emerging Web 2.0 social media options to determine if they can better achieve her branding and advertising objectives. Her challenge is to cut through all of the hype surrounding Web 2.0 and to analyze the social media's potential for her brand by delving into the consumer needs and behaviors underpinning Web 2.0 technologies.
Swot Analysis of "UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0" written by Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 2.0 Web facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Internet, Risk management and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 2.0 Web, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 2.0 Web 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 2.0 Web
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 2.0 Web
Strengths UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 2.0 Web in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– 2.0 Web 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– 2.0 Web has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled 2.0 Web to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the 2.0 Web 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– 2.0 Web 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 2.0 Web 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
– 2.0 Web has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 2.0 Web 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 2.0 Web to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 2.0 Web to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– 2.0 Web is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of 2.0 Web
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 2.0 Web does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– 2.0 Web has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– 2.0 Web is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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.
Learning organization
- 2.0 Web 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 2.0 Web is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, 2.0 Web 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, 2.0 Web 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.
Need for greater diversity
– 2.0 Web 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though 2.0 Web 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 - UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 2.0 Web is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of 2.0 Web is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. 2.0 Web needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help 2.0 Web to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0, is just above the industry average. 2.0 Web 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 2.0 Web 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
2.0 Web 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0, in the dynamic environment 2.0 Web has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. 2.0 Web has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of 2.0 Web, firm in the HBR case study UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 | 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 2.0 Web 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 2.0 Web to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. 2.0 Web can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– 2.0 Web can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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
– 2.0 Web 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 2.0 Web 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 2.0 Web to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– 2.0 Web 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, 2.0 Web 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for 2.0 Web 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 2.0 Web has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help 2.0 Web to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 case study. 2.0 Web can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– 2.0 Web 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, 2.0 Web is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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.
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. 2.0 Web 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. 2.0 Web 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.
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. 2.0 Web can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 are -
Increasing wage structure of 2.0 Web
– 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 2.0 Web.
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 2.0 Web business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– 2.0 Web 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 2.0 Web 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.
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 2.0 Web.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– 2.0 Web 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.
Environmental challenges
– 2.0 Web 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. 2.0 Web can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that 2.0 Web is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 2.0 Web with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. 2.0 Web 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.
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. 2.0 Web can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, 2.0 Web 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on 2.0 Web 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0 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 2.0 Web needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
