Swot Analysis of "Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B)" written by James K. Sebenius, Ellen Knebel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Muccio Tom facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations, Supply chain and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Muccio Tom, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Muccio Tom 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Muccio Tom
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 Muccio Tom
Strengths Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Muccio Tom in Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Muccio Tom is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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
– Muccio Tom 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 James K. Sebenius, Ellen Knebel 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Muccio Tom is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Muccio Tom to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Muccio Tom to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Muccio Tom in the sector have low bargaining power. Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Muccio Tom to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Muccio Tom is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Muccio Tom 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Muccio Tom 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Muccio Tom has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Muccio Tom 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Muccio Tom digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Muccio Tom 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Muccio Tom has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Muccio Tom has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Muccio Tom to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Muccio Tom is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Muccio Tom 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James K. Sebenius, Ellen Knebel suggests that, Muccio Tom 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Muccio Tom has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Muccio Tom 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Muccio Tom 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B), 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Muccio Tom is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Muccio Tom 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. Muccio Tom 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) HBR case study mentions - Muccio Tom 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B), in the dynamic environment Muccio Tom has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Muccio Tom has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) | 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Muccio Tom 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 Muccio Tom 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, Muccio Tom 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Muccio Tom can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Muccio Tom 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Muccio Tom is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Muccio Tom to increase its market reach. Muccio Tom will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Muccio Tom 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Muccio Tom to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Muccio Tom can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Muccio Tom operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Muccio Tom can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Muccio Tom 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.
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 Muccio Tom in the consumer business. Now Muccio Tom can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Muccio Tom 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, Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Muccio Tom has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Muccio Tom to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) case study. Muccio Tom can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) are -
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 Muccio Tom 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 Muccio Tom 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.
Environmental challenges
– Muccio Tom 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. Muccio Tom can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Muccio Tom 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Muccio Tom has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Muccio Tom 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. Muccio Tom can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Muccio Tom needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Muccio Tom 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.
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 Muccio Tom in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Muccio Tom 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Muccio Tom 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Muccio Tom 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 Muccio Tom with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart, (B) 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 Muccio Tom needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
