Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond
Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) is a nonprofit fair trade retail organization with a store located in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the store's opening and first two years of operations (2002-2004), Karen, the chair of the board of directors, and Cheryl, the store manager, struggle to develop a customer-focused plan to ensure sales increases for their unique operation. Marketing issues ranging from store location selection to inventory selection and promotion are presented. In addition to covering an alternative method of doing business - nonprofit enterprise - the case provides a platform for customer relationship management (CRM) implementation in a small, nonprofit environment.
Swot Analysis of "Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond" written by Mary Conway Dato-on includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cincinnati Thousand facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cincinnati Thousand, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cincinnati Thousand 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cincinnati Thousand
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 Cincinnati Thousand
Strengths Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cincinnati Thousand in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Cincinnati Thousand is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cincinnati Thousand has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cincinnati Thousand in the sector have low bargaining power. Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cincinnati Thousand to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cincinnati Thousand 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Cincinnati Thousand 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 Mary Conway Dato-on 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cincinnati Thousand is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cincinnati Thousand
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cincinnati Thousand does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cincinnati Thousand digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Learning organization
- Cincinnati Thousand 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 Cincinnati Thousand is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cincinnati Thousand is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Cincinnati Thousand supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cincinnati Thousand vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cincinnati Thousand products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cincinnati Thousand needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond, is just above the industry average. Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond HBR case study mentions - Cincinnati Thousand 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Cincinnati Thousand 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cincinnati Thousand 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 - Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond, it seems that the employees of Cincinnati Thousand 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Cincinnati Thousand has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mary Conway Dato-on suggests that, Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Opportunities Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond | 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond are -
Buying journey improvements
– Cincinnati Thousand can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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.
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. Cincinnati Thousand 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. Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cincinnati Thousand to increase its market reach. Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cincinnati Thousand is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cincinnati Thousand 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 Cincinnati Thousand to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cincinnati Thousand 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, Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Cincinnati Thousand in the consumer business. Now Cincinnati Thousand can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cincinnati Thousand 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 Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cincinnati Thousand 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cincinnati Thousand 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, Cincinnati Thousand can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cincinnati Thousand operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cincinnati Thousand 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.
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. Cincinnati Thousand needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Cincinnati Thousand can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond, Cincinnati Thousand 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 .
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 Cincinnati Thousand business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Cincinnati Thousand.
Environmental challenges
– Cincinnati Thousand 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. Cincinnati Thousand can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cincinnati Thousand 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
– Cincinnati Thousand 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 Cincinnati Thousand 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
– Cincinnati Thousand 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati: The First Year and Beyond 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 Cincinnati Thousand needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.