The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase
"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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase" written by Johannes Habel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Briefing Hase facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase
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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Briefing Hase, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Briefing Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Briefing Hase
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 Hase
Strengths The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Briefing Hase in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Briefing Hase 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Briefing Hase is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Briefing Hase is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Briefing Hase to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Briefing Hase to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Briefing Hase is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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.
Training and development
– Briefing Hase has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Briefing Hase in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Briefing Hase digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Briefing Hase 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 Briefing Hase
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Briefing Hase does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Briefing Hase has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Briefing Hase 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Briefing Hase is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Briefing Hase in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Briefing Hase 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. Briefing Hase 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Briefing Hase 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Briefing Hase 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase, in the dynamic environment Briefing Hase has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Briefing Hase has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Briefing Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Briefing Hase, firm in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Briefing Hase 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Briefing Hase is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Briefing Hase needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Briefing Hase to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Briefing Hase is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 Briefing Hase 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase | 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Briefing Hase 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Briefing Hase 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 Hase to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Briefing Hase 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Briefing Hase can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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.
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. Briefing Hase can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Briefing Hase has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Briefing Hase to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase case study. Briefing Hase can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Briefing Hase can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Briefing Hase operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Briefing Hase 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. Briefing Hase 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Briefing Hase 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Briefing Hase is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Briefing Hase 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
– Briefing Hase 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Briefing Hase 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.
Threats The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Briefing Hase 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. Briefing Hase needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Briefing Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Briefing Hase 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 Hase 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.
Increasing wage structure of Briefing Hase
– 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 Hase.
Environmental challenges
– Briefing Hase 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 Hase can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Briefing Hase has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Briefing Hase 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 Hase 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 Hase with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Hase.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The kitchen purchase: Briefing for sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 sellers: Mr and Mrs Hase 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 Hase needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.