Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market
College students are inseparable from their smartphones, and heavily engaged in Snapchat. This social media app allows low-consequence expression: messages disappear within 10 seconds to 24 hours of their receipt, depending on the content. Because college students seem strongly attracted to Snapchat, the implications for brand managers interested in reaching this target market deserve exploration. Four focus groups of self-described heavy users show that this media app allows college students to enter the virtual Snapchatverse and find a sweet spot of acquaintances. The sweet spot is associated with feelings of relatability, inclusion, and effortlessness and has the potential to produce empowering experiences. The verbal protocols of college students suggest that Snapchat is an ideal social media for developing acquaintance brands: brands that aim to make themselves part of an inclusive, feel-good experience or highly relatable acquaintances.
Authors :: Hemant C. Sashittal, Michael DeMar, Avan R. Jassawalla
Swot Analysis of "Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market" written by Hemant C. Sashittal, Michael DeMar, Avan R. Jassawalla includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Snapchat College facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customer service, Customers, Mobile, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Snapchat College, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Snapchat College 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Snapchat College
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 Snapchat College
Strengths Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Snapchat College in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Snapchat College to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Snapchat College to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Snapchat College 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 Snapchat College in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Snapchat College digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Snapchat College 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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.
High brand equity
– Snapchat College has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Snapchat College to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Snapchat College 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 Snapchat College is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Snapchat College 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Snapchat College is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Snapchat College in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Snapchat College in the sector have low bargaining power. Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Snapchat College to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Snapchat College 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Snapchat College has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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.
Weaknesses Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Snapchat College products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Snapchat College needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Snapchat College 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. Snapchat College 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Snapchat College 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Snapchat College is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Snapchat College 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Snapchat College 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 - Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hemant C. Sashittal, Michael DeMar, Avan R. Jassawalla suggests that, Snapchat College 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.
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 Snapchat College supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Snapchat College vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market HBR case study mentions - Snapchat College 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Snapchat College 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.
Opportunities Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market | 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market are -
Manufacturing automation
– Snapchat College 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Snapchat College 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Snapchat College 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Snapchat College can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Snapchat College operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Snapchat College can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Snapchat College can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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.
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 Snapchat College 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.
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. Snapchat College 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. Snapchat College 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.
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. Snapchat College can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Snapchat College 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Snapchat College to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Snapchat College 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 Snapchat College to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Snapchat College is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Snapchat College 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.
Threats Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market are -
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 Snapchat College in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Snapchat College
– 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 Snapchat College.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Snapchat College 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Snapchat College 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.
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 Snapchat College.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Snapchat College 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market, Snapchat College 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 .
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. Snapchat College 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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Snapchat College 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Snapchat College with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Snapchat College 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. Snapchat College can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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 Building Acquaintance Brands via Snapchat for the College Student Market 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 Snapchat College needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.