Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?
Serial entrepreneur Alex Dastmalchi runs Dastmalchi LLC, a company that sells health and personal care products directly to consumers using various social media platforms and flash sites. He and his team discuss the possibility of building out the Vitasigns product line, which consists of digital health wearable products that measure various aspects of the users health. Datmalchi LLC could be revamped to pursue this much more capital-intensive, high risk healthcare opportunity, or it could "stick to its knitting" and continue to capitalize on its unique skills in social marketing and its "fast-follower" product-sourcing capabilities.
Authors :: Paul Orlando, Jeremy Dann, Megan Strawther
Swot Analysis of "Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?" written by Paul Orlando, Jeremy Dann, Megan Strawther includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dastmalchi Vitasigns facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dastmalchi Vitasigns, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dastmalchi Vitasigns
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 Dastmalchi Vitasigns
Strengths Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dastmalchi Vitasigns in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dastmalchi Vitasigns in the sector have low bargaining power. Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dastmalchi Vitasigns to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 Paul Orlando, Jeremy Dann, Megan Strawther 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dastmalchi Vitasigns in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dastmalchi Vitasigns digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dastmalchi Vitasigns to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dastmalchi Vitasigns to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Dastmalchi Vitasigns
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dastmalchi Vitasigns does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, it seems that the employees of Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi Vitasigns has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 - Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, is just above the industry average. Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, in the dynamic environment Dastmalchi Vitasigns has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dastmalchi Vitasigns has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? | 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dastmalchi Vitasigns can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dastmalchi Vitasigns operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dastmalchi Vitasigns to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dastmalchi Vitasigns to increase its market reach. Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dastmalchi Vitasigns is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dastmalchi Vitasigns has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dastmalchi Vitasigns to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? case study. Dastmalchi Vitasigns can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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, Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dastmalchi Vitasigns can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? are -
Increasing wage structure of Dastmalchi Vitasigns
– 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 Dastmalchi Vitasigns.
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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dastmalchi Vitasigns with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Dastmalchi Vitasigns needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
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 Dastmalchi Vitasigns.
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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future?, Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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. Dastmalchi Vitasigns can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dastmalchi Vitasigns 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dastmalchi Vitasigns is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi LLC And Vitasigns: Creating A Healthy Future? 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 Dastmalchi Vitasigns needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
