Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits
Calls for a decision on whether Hart Schaffner & Marx, the nation's leading manufacturer of high quality, branded suits, should expand its product line by marketing suits that are separately ticketed (i.e., the coat, vest, and slacks are sold from individual hangers and priced separately by the retailer rather than being sold and priced as an ensemble). Serves as a vehicle for discussing product policy issues in the context of a fragmented, mature, and highly competitive industry. Related issues of channel management, pricing, and advertising also must be analyzed. Demands skilled quantitative analysis of a complex breakeven situation.
Swot Analysis of "Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits" written by Richard S. Tedlow includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Suits Marx facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Marketing, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Suits Marx, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Suits Marx
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 Suits Marx
Strengths Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Suits Marx in Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Suits Marx 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 Richard S. Tedlow 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Suits Marx in the sector have low bargaining power. Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Suits Marx to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Suits Marx 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 Suits Marx in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Suits Marx has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Suits Marx to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Suits Marx has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Suits Marx is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Suits Marx has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Suits Marx 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Suits Marx 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Suits Marx in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits - 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Suits Marx 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits, it seems that the employees of Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Suits Marx has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Suits Marx is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Suits Marx needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Suits Marx to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Suits Marx products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Suits Marx needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Suits Marx is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits HBR case study mentions - Suits Marx 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits, 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Suits Marx is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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, Richard S. Tedlow suggests that, Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits | 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Suits Marx can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Suits Marx operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Suits Marx can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Suits Marx 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Suits Marx 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 Suits Marx to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Suits Marx 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 Suits Marx 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.
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. Suits Marx can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Suits Marx 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Suits Marx to increase its market reach. Suits Marx 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Suits Marx 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Suits Marx is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Suits Marx 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.
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. Suits Marx can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits are -
Regulatory challenges
– Suits Marx 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.
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 Suits Marx business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Suits Marx demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Suits Marx 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Suits Marx 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. Suits Marx needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Suits Marx 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits .
Increasing wage structure of Suits Marx
– 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 Suits Marx.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Suits Marx 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Suits Marx is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Suits Marx in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Suits Marx 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. Suits Marx can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits 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 Suits Marx needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.