Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights
A senior product manager for a telecommunications company has been asked to propose ideas for generating new revenue from video gamers who use his company's Internet services. The manager has commissioned the development of "experience maps" for three subsegments within the gamer segment. The experience maps, which are reproduced in the case, provide students with an opportunity to generate customer insights based on real qualitative data.
Authors :: Kent Grayson, Sachin Waikar, Gene Smith
Swot Analysis of "Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights" written by Kent Grayson, Sachin Waikar, Gene Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maps Gamers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maps Gamers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maps Gamers 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maps Gamers
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 Maps Gamers
Strengths Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maps Gamers in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Maps Gamers in the sector have low bargaining power. Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maps Gamers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Maps Gamers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Maps Gamers 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.
Analytics focus
– Maps Gamers 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 Kent Grayson, Sachin Waikar, Gene Smith 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Maps Gamers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Maps Gamers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Maps Gamers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Maps Gamers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Maps Gamers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Maps Gamers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Maps Gamers 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.
Organizational Resilience of Maps Gamers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Maps Gamers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Maps Gamers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Maps Gamers 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kent Grayson, Sachin Waikar, Gene Smith suggests that, Maps Gamers 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Maps Gamers 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Maps Gamers, firm in the HBR case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights, is just above the industry average. Maps Gamers 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights, in the dynamic environment Maps Gamers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maps Gamers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Maps Gamers is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Maps Gamers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Maps Gamers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights HBR case study mentions - Maps Gamers 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maps Gamers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights | 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Maps Gamers 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Maps Gamers 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Maps Gamers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Maps Gamers 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Maps Gamers 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Maps Gamers to increase its market reach. Maps Gamers 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Maps Gamers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Maps Gamers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Maps Gamers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Maps Gamers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights case study. Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers in the consumer business. Now Maps Gamers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Maps Gamers 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.
Threats Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Maps Gamers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Maps Gamers 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.
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 Maps Gamers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maps Gamers 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights .
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 Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Maps Gamers 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 Maps Gamers 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
– Maps Gamers 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.
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. Maps Gamers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights, Maps Gamers may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Environmental challenges
– Maps Gamers 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. Maps Gamers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Maps Gamers will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Gaming the Gamers: Using Experience Maps to Develop Revenue-Generating Insights 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 Maps Gamers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
