InvestorSoft is preparing to launch its one and only product, a subscription-based software service that will make it convenient and economical for companies to manage the investor relations portion of their Web sites. The company's founder faces an uphill battle in establishing InvestorSoft as a credible supplier to buyers who prefer dealing with large, reputable firms. His immediate challenge is to settle on a set of target customers and determine whether InvestorSoft would be better off selling to them directly or through resellers who would bundle the software with other services. He must also develop pricing and promotional strategies that will secure a strong base of customers early on, to position the company for future growth.
Swot Analysis of "InvestorSoft" written by Robin Ritchie, Alim Merali includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Investorsoft Uphill facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in InvestorSoft case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Internet, Marketing, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the InvestorSoft casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in InvestorSoft case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Investorsoft Uphill, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Investorsoft Uphill 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 InvestorSoft can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in InvestorSoft case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Investorsoft Uphill
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 Investorsoft Uphill
Strengths InvestorSoft | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Investorsoft Uphill in InvestorSoft Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Investorsoft Uphill 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 Investorsoft Uphill in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Investorsoft Uphill has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in InvestorSoft 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Investorsoft Uphill is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the InvestorSoft are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Investorsoft Uphill is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Investorsoft Uphill
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Investorsoft Uphill does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Investorsoft Uphill 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 Investorsoft Uphill is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in InvestorSoft Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Investorsoft Uphill has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Investorsoft Uphill 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 InvestorSoft HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– InvestorSoft firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Investorsoft Uphill to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Investorsoft Uphill to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the InvestorSoft 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 InvestorSoft | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of InvestorSoft are -
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 Investorsoft Uphill supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - InvestorSoft, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Investorsoft Uphill vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study InvestorSoft 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 Investorsoft Uphill 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Investorsoft Uphill, firm in the HBR case study InvestorSoft needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the InvestorSoft 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 Investorsoft Uphill has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robin Ritchie, Alim Merali suggests that, Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study InvestorSoft, it seems that the employees of Investorsoft Uphill 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Investorsoft Uphill 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 InvestorSoft, in the dynamic environment Investorsoft Uphill has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Investorsoft Uphill has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study InvestorSoft, is just above the industry average. Investorsoft Uphill needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Opportunities InvestorSoft | 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 InvestorSoft are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Investorsoft Uphill can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Investorsoft Uphill can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Loyalty marketing
– Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Investorsoft Uphill to increase its market reach. Investorsoft Uphill 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. Investorsoft Uphill can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Investorsoft Uphill has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Investorsoft Uphill to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the InvestorSoft case study. Investorsoft Uphill can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Investorsoft Uphill is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. InvestorSoft 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 Investorsoft Uphill 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.
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 Investorsoft Uphill in the consumer business. Now Investorsoft Uphill can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Investorsoft Uphill can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Investorsoft Uphill 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. Investorsoft Uphill 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. Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Threats InvestorSoft External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study InvestorSoft are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Investorsoft Uphill 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.
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. Investorsoft Uphill needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Investorsoft Uphill in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Investorsoft Uphill
– 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 Investorsoft Uphill.
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 Investorsoft Uphill.
Environmental challenges
– Investorsoft Uphill 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. Investorsoft Uphill can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study InvestorSoft, Investorsoft Uphill 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Investorsoft Uphill 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 InvestorSoft .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Investorsoft Uphill has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Investorsoft Uphill 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.
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 Investorsoft Uphill business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Investorsoft Uphill 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Investorsoft Uphill is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of InvestorSoft 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 InvestorSoft 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 InvestorSoft 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 InvestorSoft 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 InvestorSoft 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 Investorsoft Uphill needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
