The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales
The case illustrates an innovative integrated marketing campaign by Nokia to promote its new phone, the N8. In early January 2010, Stuart Wells, Integrated Global Campaign Lead at Nokia, initiated and supervised the execution of an ambitious integrated marketing campaign. The case follows the decision-making process step-by-step, with particular attention to the use of digital channels in the launch strategy and to social media measurement and ROI.
Swot Analysis of "The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales" written by David Dubois, Pal Kaur Mastak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that N8 Nokia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the N8 Nokia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which N8 Nokia 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of N8 Nokia
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 N8 Nokia
Strengths The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of N8 Nokia in The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of N8 Nokia in the sector have low bargaining power. The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps N8 Nokia to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– N8 Nokia is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– N8 Nokia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– N8 Nokia 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 N8 Nokia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– N8 Nokia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled N8 Nokia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For N8 Nokia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. N8 Nokia 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 N8 Nokia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that N8 Nokia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that N8 Nokia 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– N8 Nokia has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. N8 Nokia 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.
Strong track record of project management
– N8 Nokia is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract N8 Nokia 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at N8 Nokia 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of N8 Nokia, firm in the HBR case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as N8 Nokia is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, N8 Nokia 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. N8 Nokia 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though N8 Nokia 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 - The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales, in the dynamic environment N8 Nokia has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. N8 Nokia has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– N8 Nokia 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, N8 Nokia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of N8 Nokia is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. N8 Nokia needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help N8 Nokia to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales HBR case study mentions - N8 Nokia 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.
Opportunities The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales | 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for N8 Nokia 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, N8 Nokia 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, The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales, 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
– N8 Nokia has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at N8 Nokia can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for N8 Nokia 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, N8 Nokia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that N8 Nokia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. N8 Nokia 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. N8 Nokia 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.
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. N8 Nokia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, N8 Nokia is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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.
Manufacturing automation
– N8 Nokia 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 N8 Nokia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help N8 Nokia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales case study. N8 Nokia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 N8 Nokia 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects N8 Nokia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales are -
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. N8 Nokia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– N8 Nokia 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. N8 Nokia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– N8 Nokia 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for N8 Nokia 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
– N8 Nokia has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, N8 Nokia 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales, N8 Nokia 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 .
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 N8 Nokia in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on N8 Nokia 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents N8 Nokia with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. N8 Nokia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of N8 Nokia
– 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 N8 Nokia.
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. N8 Nokia 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales 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 N8 Nokia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of The Nokia N8 'Push Snowboarding' Campaign: An Avant-Garde Social Media Strategy from Engagement to Sales