When Giving Your Customers Less Is More SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of When Giving Your Customers Less Is More
Contrary to popular belief, most of the world's household brands are not customer-centric; they're product-centric, which isn't enough anymore. Companies may say they care about the customer; they may even have installed a CRM system - but that's the problem. Customer friendliness is not the same thing as aligning your entire company's development and delivery of products and services with the current and future needs of a select set of customers in order to maximize their long-term financial value to the firm. Turning CRM into a data-gathering exercise run by IT is not the same thing as extracting value-added insight into your focal customers. This article debunks many of the myths surrounding customer centricity, showing how managers need to recontextualize the role of CRM as part of a wider customer-centric strategy. Understanding, first of all, that there is tremendous heterogeneity among your customers, and that, consequently, some customers deserve less, and it is okay to give them less, presents a radically different approach from the way most companies operate. Customer-centric firms do not just acknowledge this truth, they actually celebrate it, because they understand that it offers immense opportunities and maximum profits in the long term.
Swot Analysis of "When Giving Your Customers Less Is More" written by Peter S. Fader includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Centric Crm facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the When Giving Your Customers Less Is More casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of When Giving Your Customers Less Is More
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Centric Crm, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Centric Crm 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Centric Crm
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 Centric Crm
Strengths When Giving Your Customers Less Is More | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Centric Crm in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Centric Crm has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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.
Learning organization
- Centric Crm 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 Centric Crm is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Centric Crm 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More - 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
– Centric Crm 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 Peter S. Fader 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Centric Crm in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– When Giving Your Customers Less Is More firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Centric Crm to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Centric Crm to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Centric Crm in the sector have low bargaining power. When Giving Your Customers Less Is More has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Centric Crm to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Centric Crm is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Centric Crm is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in When Giving Your Customers Less Is More Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Centric Crm is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Centric Crm 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses When Giving Your Customers Less Is More | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of When Giving Your Customers Less Is More are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Centric Crm is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study When Giving Your Customers Less Is More can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Centric Crm is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Centric Crm needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Centric Crm to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Centric Crm, firm in the HBR case study When Giving Your Customers Less Is More needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As When Giving Your Customers Less Is More HBR case study mentions - Centric Crm 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Centric Crm products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Centric Crm needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Centric Crm supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - When Giving Your Customers Less Is More, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Centric Crm vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study When Giving Your Customers Less Is More, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study When Giving Your Customers Less Is More, in the dynamic environment Centric Crm has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Centric Crm has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Centric Crm has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Centric Crm 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter S. Fader suggests that, Centric Crm 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More | 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More are -
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. Centric Crm can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Centric Crm 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Centric Crm 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Centric Crm 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Centric Crm 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Centric Crm can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Centric Crm operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Centric Crm 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, When Giving Your Customers Less Is More, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Centric Crm 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Centric Crm 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.
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 Centric Crm in the consumer business. Now Centric Crm can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Centric Crm can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Centric Crm has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Centric Crm to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the When Giving Your Customers Less Is More case study. Centric Crm can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Centric Crm is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study When Giving Your Customers Less Is More are -
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. Centric Crm needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Centric Crm 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Centric Crm 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More .
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 Centric Crm in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Centric Crm can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Centric Crm 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Centric Crm 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.
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 Centric Crm.
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.
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. Centric Crm 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.
Environmental challenges
– Centric Crm 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. Centric Crm can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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 Centric Crm business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Centric Crm
– 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 Centric Crm.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 When Giving Your Customers Less Is More 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 Centric Crm needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
