Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise
In summer 2008, the Nashville Predators' management team was considering the strategy behind marketing the team. They thought it prudent to investigate the feasibility of opportunities in other hockey markets throughout North America, should a new owner want to move the team. Management had to consider both financial returns and on-ice success. They needed to create a comprehensive strategy, starting from a recommended location, and moving through specific recommendations on promotions, pricing and customer focus. To help create their strategy, the management team performed the following: developed a comprehensive tactical marketing plan, including income projections; identified the marketing challenges of operating in very different markets; recognized that the choice of a city location largely constrained the remaining decisions and tactics. Using this information, the management team could now identify their next steps, and what future plans should include.
Swot Analysis of "Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise" written by June Cotte, Jamie Duncan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nashville Predators facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nashville Predators, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nashville Predators
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 Nashville Predators
Strengths Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nashville Predators in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nashville Predators 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.
Learning organization
- Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Nashville Predators has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nashville Predators to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Nashville Predators
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nashville Predators does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Nashville Predators has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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
– Nashville Predators is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nashville Predators to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nashville Predators to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nashville Predators has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nashville Predators 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nashville Predators in the sector have low bargaining power. Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nashville Predators to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nashville Predators 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nashville Predators has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nashville Predators 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise HBR case study mentions - Nashville Predators 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nashville Predators 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise, it seems that the employees of Nashville Predators 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nashville Predators, firm in the HBR case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nashville Predators 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Nashville Predators 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 - Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nashville Predators is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Nashville Predators needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nashville Predators to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nashville Predators products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nashville Predators needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise | 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nashville Predators is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nashville Predators has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nashville Predators to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise case study. Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nashville Predators 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, Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Nashville Predators 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. Nashville Predators 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Nashville Predators 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nashville Predators 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nashville Predators 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nashville Predators can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nashville Predators operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Nashville Predators 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nashville Predators to increase its market reach. Nashville Predators 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nashville Predators can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Nashville Predators 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.
Threats Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise are -
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 Nashville Predators 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.
Increasing wage structure of Nashville Predators
– 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 Nashville Predators.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise .
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 Nashville Predators in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Nashville Predators can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Nashville Predators 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.
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. Nashville Predators needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nashville Predators 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nashville Predators 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 Nashville Predators is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nashville Predators has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nashville Predators 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.
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 Nashville Predators.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators: Marketing Strategy for an NHL Franchise 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 Nashville Predators needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.