YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix
"The case study along with its teaching note provides students with an overview of the mobile marketing industry. After working through the case, students will be able to: Understand YOC's evolution into a complete mobile service provider; Understand the company's service portfolio and its underlying technologies; and Discuss YOC's competitive environment and its strategic positioning. "
Authors :: Tawfik Jelassi, Mathias Promny, Enders Albrecht, Charles Waldman
Swot Analysis of "YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix" written by Tawfik Jelassi, Mathias Promny, Enders Albrecht, Charles Waldman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Yoc's Mobile facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, International business, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Yoc's Mobile, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Yoc's Mobile 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Yoc's Mobile
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 Yoc's Mobile
Strengths YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Yoc's Mobile in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Yoc's Mobile has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Yoc's Mobile 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Yoc's Mobile 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.
High brand equity
– Yoc's Mobile has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Yoc's Mobile to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Yoc's Mobile is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Yoc's Mobile is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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
– Yoc's Mobile has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Yoc's Mobile 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.
Organizational Resilience of Yoc's Mobile
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Yoc's Mobile 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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.
Analytics focus
– Yoc's Mobile 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 Tawfik Jelassi, Mathias Promny, Enders Albrecht, Charles Waldman 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Yoc's Mobile digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Yoc's Mobile 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Yoc's Mobile is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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.
Weaknesses YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Yoc's Mobile is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Yoc's Mobile needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Yoc's Mobile to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix, in the dynamic environment Yoc's Mobile has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Yoc's Mobile has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Yoc's Mobile 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Yoc's Mobile 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Yoc's Mobile 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. Yoc's Mobile 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Yoc's Mobile is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Tawfik Jelassi, Mathias Promny, Enders Albrecht, Charles Waldman suggests that, Yoc's Mobile 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Yoc's Mobile 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.
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 Yoc's Mobile supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Yoc's Mobile vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 Yoc's Mobile 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix | 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Yoc's Mobile is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Yoc's Mobile 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Yoc's Mobile to increase its market reach. Yoc's Mobile 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. Yoc's Mobile can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Yoc's Mobile 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.
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 Yoc's Mobile in the consumer business. Now Yoc's Mobile can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Yoc's Mobile 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Yoc's Mobile can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Yoc's Mobile 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Yoc's Mobile to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Yoc's Mobile in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Yoc's Mobile has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Yoc's Mobile 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Yoc's Mobile 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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Yoc's Mobile will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Yoc's Mobile 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 Yoc's Mobile
– 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 Yoc's Mobile.
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 Yoc's Mobile.
Environmental challenges
– Yoc's Mobile 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. Yoc's Mobile 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix, Yoc's Mobile 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Yoc's Mobile 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. Yoc's Mobile needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 YOC AG: Integrating the Mobile Phone into the Marketing Mix 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 Yoc's Mobile needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.