Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation
In 2007, Goldlion, one of Hong Kong's oldest menswear brands, opens the first Goldlion Accessories store in the city as part of its plan to rejuvenate its brand image. The company aims to promote Goldlion as a youthful and trendy brand by creating a fresh, chic and elegant appearance while maintaining its sophisticated image. By rejuvenating its brand image, Goldlion hopes to regain its Hong Kong market, especially the younger segment. This case illustrates the rise and fall of a Hong Kong-born apparel brand. It can be used to teach students to identify the types of marketing information needed to help a company answer its doubts and devise a viable strategy in order to achieve its goals. The case can also be used as a learning tool for designing an appropriate ad-hoc market research plan.
Swot Analysis of "Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation" written by Isabella Chan, Kevin Zhou includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Goldlion Hong facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Goldlion Hong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Goldlion Hong
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 Goldlion Hong
Strengths Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Goldlion Hong in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Goldlion Hong has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Goldlion Hong to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Goldlion Hong in the sector have low bargaining power. Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Goldlion Hong to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Goldlion Hong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Goldlion Hong 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Goldlion Hong is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Goldlion Hong is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion Hong in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Goldlion Hong to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Goldlion Hong to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Goldlion Hong in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Goldlion Hong is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Goldlion Hong 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.
Training and development
– Goldlion Hong has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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.
Learning organization
- Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion Hong is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Goldlion Hong 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation, in the dynamic environment Goldlion Hong has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Goldlion Hong has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Isabella Chan, Kevin Zhou suggests that, Goldlion Hong 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Goldlion Hong, firm in the HBR case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Goldlion Hong is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Goldlion Hong needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Goldlion Hong to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Goldlion Hong 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 - Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion Hong has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Goldlion Hong is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation, is just above the industry average. Goldlion Hong 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Goldlion Hong 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.
Opportunities Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation | 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation are -
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. Goldlion Hong can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Goldlion Hong 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, Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Goldlion Hong 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.
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. Goldlion Hong 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. Goldlion Hong 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Goldlion Hong to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Goldlion Hong in the consumer business. Now Goldlion Hong can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion Hong to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Goldlion Hong 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
– Goldlion Hong 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Goldlion Hong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Goldlion Hong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Goldlion Hong 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
– Goldlion Hong 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.
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 Goldlion Hong 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.
Threats Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation are -
Environmental challenges
– Goldlion Hong 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. Goldlion Hong can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Goldlion Hong 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation .
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.
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 Goldlion Hong.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Goldlion Hong 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
– Goldlion Hong 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Goldlion Hong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Goldlion Hong needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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. Goldlion Hong can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Goldlion Hong
– 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 Goldlion Hong.
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 Goldlion Hong business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Goldlion Hong needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Goldlion Hong 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion: Winning over Hong Kong's Hip Generation 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 Goldlion Hong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
