Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies
Effective brand management requires taking a long-term view of marketing decisions. Managing brands for the long run involves reinforcing brands or, if necessary, revitalizing brands. Reinforcing brands involves ensuring innovation in product design, manufacturing, and merchandising and ensuring relevance in user and usage imagery. Another critical consideration in reinforcing brands is the consistency of the marketing support that the brand receives, both in terms of the amount and nature of that support. Revitalizing a brand, on the other hand, requires either that lost sources of brand equity are recaptured ("a back to basics" approach) or that new sources of brand equity are identified and established. Two general approaches are possible: expanding the depth and/or breadth of brand awareness by improving brand recall and recognition of consumers during purchase or consumption settings; and improving the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations making up the brand image (either in terms of existing or new brand associations).
Swot Analysis of "Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies" written by Kevin Lane Keller includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Brand Brands facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Brand Brands, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Brand Brands 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Brand Brands
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 Brand Brands
Strengths Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Brand Brands in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Brand Brands is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Brand Brands is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Brand Brands has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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.
Learning organization
- Brand Brands 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 Brand Brands is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Brand Brands 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 Kevin Lane Keller 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.
High brand equity
– Brand Brands has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Brand Brands to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Brand Brands digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Brand Brands 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.
Organizational Resilience of Brand Brands
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Brand Brands does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Brand Brands 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Brand Brands 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Brand Brands in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies HBR case study mentions - Brand Brands 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies, in the dynamic environment Brand Brands has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Brand Brands 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, Brand Brands is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Brand Brands has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Brand Brands 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 - Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Brand Brands 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Brand Brands, firm in the HBR case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Brand Brands 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies, is just above the industry average. Brand Brands 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Brand Brands 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.
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 Brand Brands supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Brand Brands vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies | 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Brand Brands 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Brand Brands 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 Brand Brands to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Brand Brands can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Brand Brands can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Developing new processes and practices
– Brand Brands 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Brand Brands is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Brand Brands to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Brand Brands 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.
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 Brand Brands in the consumer business. Now Brand Brands can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Brand Brands can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Brand Brands can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Brand Brands operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Brand Brands can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Brand Brands 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Brand Brands to increase its market reach. Brand Brands will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Threats Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Brand Brands 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 Brand Brands in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Brand Brands has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Brand Brands 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.
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. Brand Brands needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Brand Brands 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies, Brand Brands 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 .
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 Brand Brands.
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 Brand Brands business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Brand Brands
– 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 Brand Brands.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Brand Brands 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies .
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. Brand Brands 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Brand Brands 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Managing Brands for the Long Run: Effective Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies 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 Brand Brands needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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