Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics
Sponsorship of large sporting and cultural events has become a major marketing communication tool, particularly when firms obtain exclusive rights and garner the hype associated with this honor. Concomitantly, ambush marketing-defined as attempts by competitors to exploit the event-has also increased in prominence. This article outlines what is known as the Li Ning affair, whereby major Olympic sponsor Adidas was ambushed by lesser-known Chinese sportswear company Li Ning, whose namesake founder was the most decorated Chinese Olympian and who lit the Olympic flame at the 2008 Beijing Olympiad. Data collected immediately following the closing of the Beijing Games isolates what we call the Li Ning effect-or, being incorrectly identified as an official sponsor-and the positive effects this has on measures of brand attitude and recommendation likelihood. As presented herein, seven lessons about ambush marketing can be derived from the Li Ning affair, which sponsors and those considering sponsorship opportunity might wish to learn.
Authors :: Leyland Pitt, Michael Parent, Pierre R. Berthon, Peter G. Steyn
Swot Analysis of "Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics" written by Leyland Pitt, Michael Parent, Pierre R. Berthon, Peter G. Steyn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ning Ambush facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ning Ambush, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ning Ambush 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ning Ambush
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 Ning Ambush
Strengths Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ning Ambush in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ning Ambush 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.
Learning organization
- Ning Ambush 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 Ning Ambush is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ning Ambush in the sector have low bargaining power. Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ning Ambush to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Ning Ambush 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 Leyland Pitt, Michael Parent, Pierre R. Berthon, Peter G. Steyn 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ning Ambush 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Ning Ambush 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 Ning Ambush in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Ning Ambush is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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
– Ning Ambush is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ning Ambush has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ning Ambush 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
– Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ning Ambush to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ning Ambush to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Ning Ambush has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ning Ambush to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ning Ambush in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics HBR case study mentions - Ning Ambush 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ning Ambush 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Ning Ambush has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ning Ambush 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 - Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics, it seems that the employees of Ning Ambush don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics, 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 Ning Ambush supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ning Ambush vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ning Ambush is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics, in the dynamic environment Ning Ambush has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ning Ambush has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ning Ambush has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Need for greater diversity
– Ning Ambush 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics | 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Ning Ambush 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
– Ning Ambush 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.
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. Ning Ambush can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Ning Ambush 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ning Ambush 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 Ning Ambush to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Ning Ambush in the consumer business. Now Ning Ambush 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, Ning Ambush is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ning Ambush 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.
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. Ning Ambush 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. Ning Ambush 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ning Ambush 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, Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ning Ambush to increase its market reach. Ning Ambush 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ning Ambush can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ning Ambush can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ning Ambush operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics are -
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 Ning Ambush in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ning Ambush 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ning Ambush 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ning Ambush 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ning Ambush 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics .
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. Ning Ambush 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.
Increasing wage structure of Ning Ambush
– 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 Ning Ambush.
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 Ning Ambush business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ning Ambush has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ning Ambush 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ning Ambush 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ning Ambush with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ning Ambush is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Event Sponsorship and Ambush Marketing: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics 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 Ning Ambush needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.