Case Study Description of Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle
For Jim Carr, marketing manager, Europe, for DuPont's Carpet Fibre Division, there was no alternative: to maintain its European preeminence, the company would have to create a whole new way of dealing with customers. One of the issues that would have to be resolved was who, in fact, was the customer: the mills that purchased the fiber and manufactured it into carpets or the commercial and residential end users? For Carr, the mills were a vital link in the overall industry chain, but unless somebody took the lead in truly meeting the needs of the end user, the entire chain would be weakened. And the problems were formidable--most notably the fact that customers detested having to buy carpets. DuPont would take the lead in designing services applicable throughout the distribution channel, from the mills to wholesalers, retailers, and end users, to enhance the customer's entire carpet buying experience.
Swot Analysis of "Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle" written by Sandra Vandermerwe, Marika Taishoff includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mills Carr facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Organizational culture, Supply chain and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mills Carr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mills Carr 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mills Carr
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 Mills Carr
Strengths Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mills Carr in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mills Carr in the sector have low bargaining power. Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mills Carr 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 Mills Carr digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mills Carr 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Mills Carr is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Mills Carr has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mills Carr 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 lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Mills Carr 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 Mills Carr in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mills Carr to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mills Carr to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mills Carr is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mills Carr 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Mills Carr 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 Mills Carr
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mills Carr does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Mills Carr 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 Sandra Vandermerwe, Marika Taishoff 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.
Weaknesses Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mills Carr is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Mills Carr needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mills Carr to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mills Carr is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Mills Carr supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mills Carr vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mills Carr 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle, it seems that the employees of Mills Carr 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Mills Carr 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mills Carr, firm in the HBR case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Mills Carr 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mills Carr is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mills Carr 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mills Carr 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.
Opportunities Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle | 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle are -
Loyalty marketing
– Mills Carr 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mills Carr has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mills Carr to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle case study. Mills Carr can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mills Carr to increase its market reach. Mills Carr 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mills Carr 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, Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mills Carr 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mills Carr 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mills Carr 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 Mills Carr in the consumer business. Now Mills Carr can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mills Carr can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mills Carr 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mills Carr to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Mills Carr 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mills Carr can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mills Carr operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mills Carr is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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.
Threats Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle are -
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. Mills Carr can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mills Carr 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 Mills Carr with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mills Carr 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.
Environmental challenges
– Mills Carr 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. Mills Carr can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mills Carr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mills Carr 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.
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.
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.
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 Mills Carr.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mills Carr is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mills Carr 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
– Mills Carr 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mills Carr 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Dupont (A): Understanding the Customer's Activity Cycle 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 Mills Carr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
