The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine
Secret societies have intrigued humanity since earliest times. In this article we explore secret societies in the context of wine and how these institutions might be insightful in formulating marketing strategies. We contrast the characteristics of secret societies with those of existing secret wine societies such as The Wine Society and La ConfrA?rie. Yet while some of these functions and characteristics transfer well, many 'secret' wine societies aren't actually that secret. Some of the characteristics of secret societies are also found in consumer brand communities. Armed with this knowledge, wine marketers can exploit the characteristics of secret societies to target market segments with precision and to gain the benefits of focused distribution opportunities.
Authors :: Daniel Hall, Leyland Pitt, Asa Wallstrom
Swot Analysis of "The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine" written by Daniel Hall, Leyland Pitt, Asa Wallstrom includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Societies Secret facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Societies Secret, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Societies Secret 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Societies Secret
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 Societies Secret
Strengths The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Societies Secret in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Societies Secret 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Societies Secret is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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
– Societies Secret has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Societies Secret to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Societies Secret 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 Societies Secret is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Societies Secret has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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.
Organizational Resilience of Societies Secret
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Societies Secret does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Societies Secret in the sector have low bargaining power. The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Societies Secret to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Societies Secret are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Societies Secret to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Societies Secret to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Societies Secret in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Societies Secret is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Societies Secret has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Societies Secret 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.
Weaknesses The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Societies Secret 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Societies Secret is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Societies Secret needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Societies Secret to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine HBR case study mentions - Societies Secret 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, Societies Secret is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Societies Secret supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Societies Secret vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine, it seems that the employees of Societies Secret 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
Societies Secret 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Societies Secret products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Societies Secret needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine, is just above the industry average. Societies Secret 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 Societies Secret has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Societies Secret needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine | 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Societies Secret can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Societies Secret can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Societies Secret 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Societies Secret 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.
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 Societies Secret in the consumer business. Now Societies Secret can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Societies Secret can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Societies Secret operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Societies Secret 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Societies Secret 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Societies Secret to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Societies Secret has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Societies Secret to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine case study. Societies Secret can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Societies Secret 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 Societies Secret to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Societies Secret can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Manufacturing automation
– Societies Secret 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 Societies Secret to increase its market reach. Societies Secret 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.
Threats The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 Societies Secret in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Societies Secret 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Societies Secret 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Societies Secret has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Societies Secret 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.
Environmental challenges
– Societies Secret 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. Societies Secret can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Societies Secret is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Societies Secret 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine, Societies Secret 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 .
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. Societies Secret can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Societies Secret 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.
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 Societies Secret business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Societies Secret
– 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 Societies Secret.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Societies Secret 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 The secrets of secret societies: The case of wine 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 Societies Secret needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.