Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital
In January 2010, Bob Bowman, chief executive officer of Major League Baseball Advanced Media -- MLB's digital arm -- is facing a number of decisions related to its app for Apple's new iPad. For example, what are the best name, price, and set of features for MLBAM's iPad app? The case describes what is often seen as one of the most successful paid-content businesses in sports and media. Provides in-depth information on MLBAM's four main sources of revenues and relates those to the league's overall revenues. It also describes the company's online and mobile offerings in considerable detail and outlines the choices facing MLB's offering for Apple's iPad device, enabling a rich discussion of viable marketing strategies.
Swot Analysis of "Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital" written by Anita Elberse, Brett Laffel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ipad Mlb's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ipad Mlb's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ipad Mlb's
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 Ipad Mlb's
Strengths Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ipad Mlb's in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ipad Mlb's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Ipad Mlb's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ipad Mlb's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ipad Mlb's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ipad Mlb's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Ipad Mlb's 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
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Ipad Mlb's 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 Ipad Mlb's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Ipad Mlb's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Ipad Mlb's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ipad Mlb's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ipad Mlb's 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.
Weaknesses Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ipad Mlb's 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. Ipad Mlb's 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, in the dynamic environment Ipad Mlb's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ipad Mlb's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ipad Mlb's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital HBR case study mentions - Ipad Mlb's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ipad Mlb's 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 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 Ipad Mlb's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ipad Mlb's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ipad Mlb's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ipad Mlb's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Ipad Mlb's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ipad Mlb's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ipad Mlb's has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, 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.
Opportunities Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital | 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital are -
Loyalty marketing
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
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 Ipad Mlb's in the consumer business. Now Ipad Mlb's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Ipad Mlb's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ipad Mlb's to increase its market reach. Ipad Mlb's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ipad Mlb's 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, Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ipad Mlb's 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 Ipad Mlb's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ipad Mlb's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ipad Mlb's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ipad Mlb's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ipad Mlb's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ipad Mlb's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ipad Mlb's 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.
Threats Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ipad Mlb's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Ipad Mlb's 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ipad Mlb's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ipad Mlb's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ipad Mlb's 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
– Ipad Mlb's 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. Ipad Mlb's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Ipad Mlb's
– 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 Ipad Mlb's.
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. Ipad Mlb's 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, Ipad Mlb's 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital .
Regulatory challenges
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Ipad Mlb's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ipad Mlb's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Ipad Mlb's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.