Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B)
Describes the highly successful recall of the Black & Decker Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker. Objectives include: 1) factors in product recall effectiveness and success, 2) the use of direct marketing in product recall, 3) the role of public relations in product recall, and 4) impact of product recalls on product brands.
Swot Analysis of "Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B)" written by N. Craig Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Recall Spacemaker facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Ethics, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing,
geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Recall Spacemaker, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Recall Spacemaker 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Recall Spacemaker
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 Recall Spacemaker
Strengths Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Recall Spacemaker in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Recall Spacemaker to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Recall Spacemaker to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Recall Spacemaker is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Recall Spacemaker 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Recall Spacemaker has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Recall Spacemaker to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Recall Spacemaker in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Recall Spacemaker has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Recall Spacemaker 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Recall Spacemaker 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Recall Spacemaker is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) 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.
Learning organization
- Recall Spacemaker 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 Recall Spacemaker is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Recall Spacemaker in the sector have low bargaining power. Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Recall Spacemaker to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Recall Spacemaker is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Recall Spacemaker is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B), is just above the industry average. Recall Spacemaker 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Recall Spacemaker 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 - Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Recall Spacemaker has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) 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 Recall Spacemaker 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Recall Spacemaker, firm in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Recall Spacemaker 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Recall Spacemaker is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Recall Spacemaker 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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.
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 Recall Spacemaker supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Recall Spacemaker vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) are -
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 Recall Spacemaker 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Recall Spacemaker to increase its market reach. Recall Spacemaker 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
– Recall Spacemaker 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Recall Spacemaker to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Recall Spacemaker 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Recall Spacemaker has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Recall Spacemaker to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) case study. Recall Spacemaker can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Recall Spacemaker in the consumer business. Now Recall Spacemaker can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Recall Spacemaker is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Recall Spacemaker 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Recall Spacemaker can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Recall Spacemaker 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Recall Spacemaker 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Recall Spacemaker can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Recall Spacemaker operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Recall Spacemaker 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.
Threats Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) are -
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Recall Spacemaker 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (B) .
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 Recall Spacemaker.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Recall Spacemaker is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Recall Spacemaker 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Recall Spacemaker 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 wage structure of Recall Spacemaker
– 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 Recall Spacemaker.
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. Recall Spacemaker needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Recall Spacemaker 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.
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.
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. Recall Spacemaker can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Recall Spacemaker has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Recall Spacemaker 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.
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 Recall Spacemaker in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (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 Recall Spacemaker needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.