L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction
L'Itineraire Community Group was a not-for-profit organization located in Montreal, Quebec. It published a French-language magazine that was sold by homeless and socially marginalized people in the city. The group's management committee was examining ways of raising additional funds because of the reduction in contributions from traditional sources such as government subsidies. Options included targeting the magazine to the Anglophone and immigrant communities in Montreal, targeting regions outside of Montreal, and producing a digital version of the magazine. The digital option had the additional constraint that the vendors of the magazine, the homeless and socially marginalized, would not be involved in selling. How should the organization deal with this issue? Christopher A. Ross is affiliated with Concordia University.
Swot Analysis of "L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction" written by Christopher A. Ross includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Magazine L'itineraire facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Magazine L'itineraire, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Magazine L'itineraire 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Magazine L'itineraire
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 Magazine L'itineraire
Strengths L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Magazine L'itineraire in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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
– L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Magazine L'itineraire to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Magazine L'itineraire to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Magazine L'itineraire is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Magazine L'itineraire 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 Magazine L'itineraire is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Magazine L'itineraire has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Magazine L'itineraire to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Magazine L'itineraire has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Magazine L'itineraire is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Magazine L'itineraire in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Magazine L'itineraire is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Magazine L'itineraire is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Magazine L'itineraire has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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.
Analytics focus
– Magazine L'itineraire 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 Christopher A. Ross 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.
Weaknesses L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Magazine L'itineraire is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction, in the dynamic environment Magazine L'itineraire has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Magazine L'itineraire has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Magazine L'itineraire, firm in the HBR case study L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Magazine L'itineraire 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. Magazine L'itineraire 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Magazine L'itineraire 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Magazine L'itineraire 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 Magazine L'itineraire has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Magazine L'itineraire is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Magazine L'itineraire needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Magazine L'itineraire to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Magazine L'itineraire 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Magazine L'itineraire 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction | 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Magazine L'itineraire has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Magazine L'itineraire to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction case study. Magazine L'itineraire can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Magazine L'itineraire 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.
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. Magazine L'itineraire can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Magazine L'itineraire 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. Magazine L'itineraire 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, Magazine L'itineraire 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, L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Magazine L'itineraire can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Magazine L'itineraire can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Magazine L'itineraire 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.
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 Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Magazine L'itineraire can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Magazine L'itineraire operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Magazine L'itineraire 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction are -
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.
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 Magazine L'itineraire in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Magazine L'itineraire with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Environmental challenges
– Magazine L'itineraire 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. Magazine L'itineraire can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Magazine L'itineraire needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Magazine L'itineraire
– 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 Magazine L'itineraire.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Magazine L'itineraire is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Magazine L'itineraire business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Magazine L'itineraire 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Magazine L'itineraire 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 L'Itineraire Community Group Inc.: Future Direction 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 Magazine L'itineraire needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
