The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle
"The kitchen purchase" is a simulation of bargaining over the price of a fitted kitchen. The case study consists of a briefing for the sellers (the Hase family) and a briefing for the buyers (the Stulle family). On the basis of these briefings the course participants negotiate individually or in teams of two. The case study has been kept simple so that the negotiations can be conducted with very little preparation time needed. At the same time the case study presents a few "stumbling blocks" and permits a profound discussion on the distributive and integrative conduct of negotiations, handling bargaining power, and the ethics of bargaining. The case study is therefore especially well-suited for course participants with intermediate to advanced negotiating experience.
Swot Analysis of "The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle" written by Johannes Habel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Briefing Stulle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Briefing Stulle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Briefing Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Briefing Stulle
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 Briefing Stulle
Strengths The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Briefing Stulle in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Briefing Stulle 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 The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Briefing Stulle has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Learning organization
- Briefing Stulle 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 Briefing Stulle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Briefing Stulle in the sector have low bargaining power. The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Briefing Stulle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Briefing Stulle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Briefing Stulle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Briefing Stulle 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 brand equity
– Briefing Stulle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Briefing Stulle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Briefing Stulle has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Briefing Stulle 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Briefing Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Briefing Stulle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Briefing Stulle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Briefing Stulle is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Briefing Stulle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle, it seems that the employees of Briefing Stulle 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Johannes Habel suggests that, Briefing Stulle 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Briefing Stulle, firm in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Briefing Stulle 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 - The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle HBR case study mentions - Briefing Stulle 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Briefing Stulle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Briefing Stulle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Briefing Stulle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Briefing Stulle 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Briefing Stulle 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Briefing Stulle 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Briefing Stulle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle, is just above the industry average. Briefing Stulle 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.
Opportunities The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle | 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Briefing Stulle 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Briefing Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Briefing Stulle to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Briefing Stulle 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Briefing Stulle 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 Briefing Stulle to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Briefing Stulle 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Briefing Stulle 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Briefing Stulle 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Briefing Stulle can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Briefing Stulle 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, The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Briefing Stulle 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Briefing Stulle to increase its market reach. Briefing Stulle will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Briefing Stulle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Briefing Stulle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle are -
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 Briefing Stulle.
Increasing wage structure of Briefing Stulle
– 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 Briefing Stulle.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Briefing Stulle 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Briefing Stulle 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 Briefing Stulle 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Briefing Stulle 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.
Environmental challenges
– Briefing Stulle 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. Briefing Stulle can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Briefing Stulle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Briefing Stulle 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.
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. Briefing Stulle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Briefing Stulle with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Briefing Stulle 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, Briefing Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle .
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 Briefing Stulle in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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 kitchen purchase: Briefing for buyers: Mr and Mrs Stulle 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 Briefing Stulle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.