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 - – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ipad Mlb's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Analytics focus
– Ipad Mlb's 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 Anita Elberse, Brett Laffel can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ipad Mlb's in the sector have low bargaining power. Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ipad Mlb's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ipad Mlb's 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
– 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ipad Mlb's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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.
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 -
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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 Ipad Mlb's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ipad Mlb's 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.
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.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anita Elberse, Brett Laffel suggests that, Ipad Mlb's 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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, is just above the industry average. Ipad Mlb's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ipad Mlb's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ipad Mlb's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital 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.
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. Ipad Mlb's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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 -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ipad Mlb's 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Major League Baseball Advanced Media: America's Pastime Goes Digital, Ipad Mlb's 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 .
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.
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. Ipad Mlb's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ipad Mlb's is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 .
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.
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.
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 Ipad Mlb's.
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.