Case Study Description of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy
This case addresses the new opportunities and challenges in design and marketing to customers who are elderly or have disabilities. A product manager learns that Leviton's wall switches are favored over less expensive competitive products by homeowners with limited vision or dexterity. With the help of a federal center on disability research, she convinces her managers to develop a marketing program to promote these features to this large and growing market segment. Leviton's in-house marketing department prepares a promotional campaign modeled on a previous successful niche marketing program. The research center staff warns that treating elders and people with disabilities as a niche market will cause the program to fail. They recommend emphasis on the "universal design" appeal of Leviton's products to children as well as elders, able-bodied as well as disabled. The product manager must choose a direction for the program based on either the research center's experience with this new market or her own company's marketing expertise.
Swot Analysis of "Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy" written by Cynthia A. Ingols, James L. Mueller includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leviton's Elders facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Product development, Social responsibility and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leviton's Elders, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leviton's Elders
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 Leviton's Elders
Strengths Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leviton's Elders in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton's Elders in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton's Elders digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Leviton's Elders 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Leviton's Elders 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
– Leviton's Elders has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Leviton's Elders 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Leviton's Elders
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leviton's Elders does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Leviton's Elders is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Leviton's Elders is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Leviton's Elders in the sector have low bargaining power. Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Leviton's Elders to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Leviton's Elders is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Leviton's Elders 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Leviton's Elders products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Leviton's Elders needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Leviton's Elders supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Leviton's Elders vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy, is just above the industry average. Leviton's Elders 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton's Elders 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Leviton's Elders 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 - Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Leviton's Elders, firm in the HBR case study Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Leviton's Elders 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Leviton's Elders 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leviton's Elders is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy HBR case study mentions - Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy | 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Leviton's Elders has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leviton's Elders to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy case study. Leviton's Elders can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Leviton's Elders can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Leviton's Elders 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Leviton's Elders can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Leviton's Elders operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton's Elders to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Leviton's Elders can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Leviton's Elders 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. Leviton's Elders 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Leviton's Elders 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, Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Leviton's Elders 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton's Elders 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Leviton's Elders 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Leviton's Elders to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy are -
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 Leviton's Elders in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Leviton's Elders 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.
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 Leviton's Elders.
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. Leviton's Elders needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Leviton's Elders can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Leviton's Elders 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.
Environmental challenges
– Leviton's Elders 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. Leviton's Elders can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Leviton's Elders 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Leviton's Elders 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.
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.
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 Leviton's Elders business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Leviton's Elders 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.: Universal Design Marketing Strategy 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 Leviton's Elders needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.