Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There
This technical note discusses learnings from organizations facing the challenges of managing brands across global geography. It talks about best practices for balancing the competing needs for local relevance and global consistency and scales.
Authors :: Julie Hennessy, Evan Meagher, Eric Leininger
Swot Analysis of "Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There" written by Julie Hennessy, Evan Meagher, Eric Leininger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Learnings Scales facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices,
technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Learnings Scales, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Learnings Scales 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Learnings Scales
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 Learnings Scales
Strengths Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Learnings Scales in Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Learnings Scales 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 Learnings Scales is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Learnings Scales 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Learnings Scales 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Learnings Scales to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Learnings Scales to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Learnings Scales in the sector have low bargaining power. Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Learnings Scales to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Learnings Scales 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 Learnings Scales in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Learnings Scales
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Learnings Scales does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Learnings Scales is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Learnings Scales 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Learnings Scales is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Learnings Scales in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Learnings Scales has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Learnings Scales 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.
Weaknesses Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Learnings Scales 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Learnings Scales 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Learnings Scales is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Learnings Scales is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Learnings Scales needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Learnings Scales to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Learnings Scales 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Learnings Scales 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 - Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There, it seems that the employees of Learnings Scales 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There, in the dynamic environment Learnings Scales has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Learnings Scales has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Julie Hennessy, Evan Meagher, Eric Leininger suggests that, Learnings Scales 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There, 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.
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 Learnings Scales supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Learnings Scales vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There | 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Learnings Scales 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Learnings Scales 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Learnings Scales 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Learnings Scales 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Learnings Scales can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Learnings Scales has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Learnings Scales to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There case study. Learnings Scales can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Learnings Scales 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. Learnings Scales 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Learnings Scales 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Learnings Scales to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Learnings Scales can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Learnings Scales 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.
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. Learnings Scales can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Learnings Scales in the consumer business. Now Learnings Scales can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Learnings Scales to increase its market reach. Learnings Scales 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.
Threats Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There are -
Regulatory challenges
– Learnings Scales 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Learnings Scales is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Learnings Scales.
Environmental challenges
– Learnings Scales 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. Learnings Scales 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Learnings Scales 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Learnings Scales with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Learnings Scales in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Learnings Scales 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
– Learnings Scales 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 Learnings Scales
– 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 Learnings Scales.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Learnings Scales 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Global Brand Management: Best Practices and Learnings from Efforts to Build the Business "Over There 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 Learnings Scales needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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