SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future
SUNDAY Communications was one of six mobile phone service providers facing fierce competition in a small market of 6.7 million population in Hong Kong. The company had pursued an aggressive marketing and branding strategy since its establishment in 1994. However, after six years, it was still struggling to make a profit. With the imminent granting of 3G licenses in early 2001, the company is hard-pressed to formulate a viable strategy that will enable it to capitalize on its brand image and reposition itself in the mobile phone industry.
Swot Analysis of "SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future" written by Velma Lee, Pauline Ng, Elsie Choi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sunday Phone facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sunday Phone, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sunday Phone 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sunday Phone
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 Sunday Phone
Strengths SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sunday Phone in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Sunday Phone has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sunday Phone is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Sunday Phone 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 Velma Lee, Pauline Ng, Elsie Choi 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sunday Phone is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Sunday Phone is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sunday Phone to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sunday Phone to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Sunday Phone 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 Sunday Phone is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sunday Phone has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sunday Phone 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sunday Phone is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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.
High brand equity
– Sunday Phone has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sunday Phone to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Sunday Phone
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sunday Phone does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sunday Phone 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. Sunday Phone 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.
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 Sunday Phone supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sunday Phone vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future, it seems that the employees of Sunday Phone 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sunday Phone 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sunday Phone is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sunday Phone is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Sunday Phone needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sunday Phone to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future, is just above the industry average. Sunday Phone 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sunday Phone 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future, in the dynamic environment Sunday Phone has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sunday Phone has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sunday Phone 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 - SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Velma Lee, Pauline Ng, Elsie Choi suggests that, Sunday Phone 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.
Opportunities SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future | 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sunday Phone can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sunday Phone 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sunday Phone 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sunday Phone 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.
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 Sunday Phone 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sunday Phone 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sunday Phone to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Sunday Phone 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. Sunday Phone 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sunday Phone to increase its market reach. Sunday Phone 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sunday Phone is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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.
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 Sunday Phone in the consumer business. Now Sunday Phone 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, Sunday Phone 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, SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sunday Phone 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sunday Phone 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 Sunday Phone to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future are -
Increasing wage structure of Sunday Phone
– 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 Sunday Phone.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sunday Phone with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sunday Phone 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 Sunday Phone in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sunday Phone is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sunday Phone 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 Sunday Phone 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.
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. Sunday Phone can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sunday Phone 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sunday Phone 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.
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, Sunday Phone 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 SUNDAY Communications Ltd.: A Marketing Strategy for a Wireless Future 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 Sunday Phone needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.