Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture
Many widely accepted management theories related to mission statements, branding and advertising are Western inventions that do not translate when companies go global. What plays well at home may not go down so well in foreign environments. The author recommends that a company conduct a full review of its entire global marketing strategy - from its mission and vision, to its portfolio, positioning and product usage, to its communications and advertising campaigns. Throughout the discussion, she challenges managers to let go of their preconceived ideas and insistence on consistency and standardization, which they may think is being cost-effective, but in reality will never succeed in scratching consumers where they itch. To be truly effective, global marketing strategies must articulate not the culture-bound values of one particular company, but the values of the stakeholders in all of the countries where the company operates. If not, stakeholders elsewhere may have difficulties identifying with the company.
Swot Analysis of "Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture" written by Marieke de Mooij includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Itch Scratching facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Cross-cultural management, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Itch Scratching, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Itch Scratching 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Itch Scratching
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 Itch Scratching
Strengths Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Itch Scratching in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Itch Scratching to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Itch Scratching to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Itch Scratching
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Itch Scratching does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Itch Scratching has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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
– Itch Scratching is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Itch Scratching is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Itch Scratching 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 Itch Scratching in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Itch Scratching 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 Itch Scratching is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Itch Scratching 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
– Itch Scratching has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Itch Scratching 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Itch Scratching 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Itch Scratching 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Itch Scratching 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Itch Scratching 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Marieke de Mooij suggests that, Itch Scratching 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture, it seems that the employees of Itch Scratching 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Itch Scratching is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Itch Scratching 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Itch Scratching, firm in the HBR case study Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture, in the dynamic environment Itch Scratching has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Itch Scratching has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Itch Scratching 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Itch Scratching products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Itch Scratching needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Itch Scratching 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. Itch Scratching 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.
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 Itch Scratching supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Itch Scratching vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture | 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Itch Scratching 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Itch Scratching 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Itch Scratching has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Itch Scratching to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture case study. Itch Scratching can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Itch Scratching to increase its market reach. Itch Scratching 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Itch Scratching 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.
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 Itch Scratching 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Itch Scratching 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Itch Scratching can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Itch Scratching operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Itch Scratching 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Itch Scratching to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Itch Scratching can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Itch Scratching 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, Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Itch Scratching has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Itch Scratching can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture are -
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 Itch Scratching.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Itch Scratching 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.
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 Itch Scratching in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Itch Scratching 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Itch Scratching 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. Itch Scratching can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Itch Scratching with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Itch Scratching 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Itch Scratching 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, Itch Scratching 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture .
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. Itch Scratching needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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. Itch Scratching can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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 Tailoring Your Strategy to Fit the Culture 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 Itch Scratching needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.