OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market
In early 2016, after the success of its first two smartphones, the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2, China-based startup smartphone maker OnePlus was deciding how to build on its early success and grow into a global contender in the highly competitive smartphone market. Technology enthusiasts and geeks had flocked to purchase the first two generations of its smartphones and expectations were high for the company's next product. The company's founders, Pete Lau and Carl Pei, faced the challenge of broadening the appeal of OnePlus to address the mainstream market without alienating its core customer base. "Crossing the chasm" from the early adopters to the mainstream market involved addressing three interrelated questions: First, what segments should OnePlus target as it sought to grow beyond its loyal fan base? Second, what value proposition and positioning strategy should it adopt to appeal to these target customers? Finally, what distribution and marketing communications strategy should it employ to make best use of its limited financial resources? A key consideration in formulating its strategy was to stay true to the company's culture and mission of "Never Settle" by charting its own course and not emulating the strategies of much larger competitors like Apple, Samsung, LG, and HTC.
Swot Analysis of "OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market" written by Mohanbir Sawhney, Pallavi Goodman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Oneplus Smartphone facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Mobile, Organizational culture, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oneplus Smartphone, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oneplus Smartphone 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oneplus Smartphone
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 Oneplus Smartphone
Strengths OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oneplus Smartphone in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Oneplus Smartphone has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Oneplus Smartphone to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Oneplus Smartphone to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Oneplus Smartphone to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Oneplus Smartphone digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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.
Learning organization
- Oneplus Smartphone 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 Oneplus Smartphone is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Oneplus Smartphone has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Oneplus Smartphone has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oneplus Smartphone is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Oneplus Smartphone is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Oneplus Smartphone 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Oneplus Smartphone in the sector have low bargaining power. OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Oneplus Smartphone to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Oneplus Smartphone is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market, in the dynamic environment Oneplus Smartphone has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Oneplus Smartphone has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Oneplus Smartphone 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 Oneplus Smartphone 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 - OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Oneplus Smartphone 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. Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Oneplus Smartphone needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Oneplus Smartphone is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Oneplus Smartphone 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 Oneplus Smartphone has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market, it seems that the employees of Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Opportunities OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market | 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Oneplus Smartphone to increase its market reach. Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Oneplus Smartphone can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Oneplus Smartphone can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Oneplus Smartphone operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Oneplus Smartphone can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Oneplus Smartphone 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, OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Oneplus Smartphone can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Oneplus Smartphone 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 Oneplus Smartphone to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Oneplus Smartphone 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Oneplus Smartphone to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Threats OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market are -
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.
Increasing wage structure of Oneplus Smartphone
– 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 Oneplus Smartphone.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Oneplus Smartphone 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. Oneplus Smartphone needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Oneplus Smartphone 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.
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. Oneplus Smartphone 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
– Oneplus Smartphone 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.
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 Oneplus Smartphone in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Oneplus Smartphone with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market, Oneplus Smartphone 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Oneplus Smartphone has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Oneplus Smartphone 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.
Environmental challenges
– Oneplus Smartphone 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. Oneplus Smartphone can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 OnePlus: Crossing the Chasm in the Smartphone Market 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 Oneplus Smartphone needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
