Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand
In 1982, Saab opened his first atelier in Beirut and began designing luxurious evening gowns and exquisite wedding dresses. His talent for design fuelled his career throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, Saab continued to expand his business by moving to a larger atelier in Beirut and organizing exclusive fashion shows in Europe. In 2000, he opened a salon and showroom in Paris to increase his cosmopolitan and international clientele. A flagship store in Paris opened in March 2007. In June 2010, Elie Saab (ES) opened its first flagship store in the Gulf region in Dubai's prestigious Dubai Mall. This new flagship store reinforced the brand's presence in the United Arab Emirates, making its products more accessible to the region's local and international shoppers. The store showcased day and evening wear dresses, shoes, bags and accessories from the latest ready-to-wear (RTW) collections. In July 2008, ES opened its first U.K. boutique at Harrods. The company planned to increase its worldwide retail presence through opening additional stores in major cities around the world, including the United States and Asia. While the company was witnessing impressive growth, management was dealing with the challenge of selecting the right partners, identifying new markets with the greatest growth potential and, most importantly, protecting the brand from dilution. From the start, its goal was to "attract, select and maintain customers who place significance on high-end, one-of-a-kind designs made from the finest fabrics and materials." The case covers the challenges and opportunities of the company as it expands internationally.
Swot Analysis of "Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand" written by Nadia Shuayto includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Saab Atelier facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Saab Atelier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Saab Atelier 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Saab Atelier
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 Saab Atelier
Strengths Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Saab Atelier in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Saab Atelier to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Saab Atelier to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Saab Atelier is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Saab Atelier has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Saab Atelier has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Saab Atelier is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Saab Atelier digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Saab Atelier 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Saab Atelier 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Saab Atelier is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Saab Atelier has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Saab Atelier to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Saab Atelier has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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.
Analytics focus
– Saab Atelier 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 Nadia Shuayto 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Saab Atelier 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Saab Atelier 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand HBR case study mentions - Saab Atelier 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Saab Atelier 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. Saab Atelier 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Saab Atelier products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Saab Atelier needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Saab Atelier has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Saab Atelier 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Saab Atelier is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Saab Atelier 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.
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 Saab Atelier supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Saab Atelier vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand, it seems that the employees of Saab Atelier 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Saab Atelier 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand, 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.
Opportunities Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand | 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand are -
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. Saab Atelier can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Saab Atelier 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Saab Atelier 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 Saab Atelier to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Saab Atelier 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Saab Atelier can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Saab Atelier 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Saab Atelier to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Saab Atelier can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Saab Atelier 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. Saab Atelier 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Saab Atelier 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 Saab Atelier 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Saab Atelier 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Saab Atelier can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Saab Atelier operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Saab Atelier to increase its market reach. Saab Atelier 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.
Threats Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Saab Atelier has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Saab Atelier 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Saab Atelier 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
– Saab Atelier 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 Saab Atelier in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Saab Atelier 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand, Saab Atelier 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Saab Atelier 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.
Increasing wage structure of Saab Atelier
– 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 Saab Atelier.
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. Saab Atelier can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Saab Atelier business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Saab Atelier is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Saab Atelier 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Elie Saab: Growth of a Global Luxury Brand 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 Saab Atelier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.