A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine
Historically, globalization has been synonymous with mega brands' expansion into international markets. However, changes in the marketing landscape-namely, growth of immigrant consumers, new and emerging branding strategies, and advancements in technology-have created a shift in the globalization paradigm, opening opportunities for small brands. Focusing on the growing number of Asian-American consumers, the authors develop a two-stage global market entry strategy for small brands entering the U.S. market. Specifically, the authors show how Asian brands can penetrate the U.S. market by serving Asian-American consumers or using them as a launchpad to reach the mainstream American consumers. The growth of small global brands signifies an important and exciting change in the branded marketplace currently dominated by Western brands.
Authors :: Steven Chen, Yuna Kim, Chiranjeev Kohli
Swot Analysis of "A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine" written by Steven Chen, Yuna Kim, Chiranjeev Kohli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Brands Asian facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Race, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Brands Asian, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Brands Asian 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Brands Asian
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 Brands Asian
Strengths A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Brands Asian in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Brands Asian 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 Brands Asian in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Brands Asian has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Brands Asian to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Brands Asian 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 Steven Chen, Yuna Kim, Chiranjeev Kohli 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 Brands Asian in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Brands Asian 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Brands Asian in the sector have low bargaining power. A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Brands Asian to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Brands Asian digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Brands Asian 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Brands Asian 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine - 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
– Brands Asian has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Brands Asian 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
– Brands Asian is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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.
Weaknesses A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine, is just above the industry average. Brands Asian 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Brands Asian 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 - A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Brands Asian 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. Brands Asian 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Brands Asian is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Brands Asian 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 Brands Asian 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Brands Asian supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Brands Asian vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Brands Asian 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 Brands Asian has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine, in the dynamic environment Brands Asian has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Brands Asian has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Brands Asian needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine | 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Brands Asian 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.
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. Brands Asian can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Brands Asian 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Brands Asian 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Brands Asian is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Brands Asian 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, Brands Asian 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Brands Asian 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, A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Brands Asian 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. Brands Asian 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 Brands Asian 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Brands Asian can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Brands Asian 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 Brands Asian to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Brands Asian in the consumer business. Now Brands Asian can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Brands Asian 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Brands Asian has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Brands Asian 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Brands Asian 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Brands Asian 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.
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 Brands Asian in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Brands Asian 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Brands Asian 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.
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. Brands Asian can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Brands Asian.
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 Brands Asian business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Brands Asian with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Brands Asian needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 A Korean, a Chinese, and an Indian Walk Into an American Bar: Tapping the Asian-American Goldmine 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 Brands Asian needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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