Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage
The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has become a prominent management theory that firms can use to analyze resources as potential sources of competitive advantage. Theorists have suggested sponsorship of sport properties as one such resource, yet specific cases of sponsorship's role in a firm's achievement of a sustained advantage over competitors have yet to be explored. This article illuminates the case of Visa's longstanding global sponsorship of the Olympic Games, which was initiated and leveraged to counteract competitor American Express' advantage with global business travelers. Evidence is presented that supports Visa's achievement of a competitive advantage during the term of the sponsorship. The case is then used to develop a conceptual model based on the RBV to identify the key characteristics of sponsored properties capable of assisting the sponsoring firm in achieving a sustained competitive advantage. From a managerial perspective, the model is designed to assist marketing managers tasked with the identification and evaluation of potential sponsorship properties.
Authors :: Jonathan A. Jensen, Joe B. Cobbs, Brian A. Turner
Swot Analysis of "Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage" written by Jonathan A. Jensen, Joe B. Cobbs, Brian A. Turner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sponsorship Advantage facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage casestudy better are - – technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sponsorship Advantage, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sponsorship Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sponsorship Advantage
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 Sponsorship Advantage
Strengths Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sponsorship Advantage in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Sponsorship Advantage has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sponsorship Advantage to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sponsorship Advantage to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sponsorship Advantage to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Sponsorship Advantage has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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.
Learning organization
- Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sponsorship Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Sponsorship Advantage 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 Jonathan A. Jensen, Joe B. Cobbs, Brian A. Turner 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sponsorship Advantage in the sector have low bargaining power. Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sponsorship Advantage to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sponsorship Advantage in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sponsorship Advantage is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Sponsorship Advantage products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sponsorship Advantage vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sponsorship Advantage 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sponsorship Advantage 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jonathan A. Jensen, Joe B. Cobbs, Brian A. Turner suggests that, Sponsorship Advantage is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage, is just above the industry average. Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sponsorship Advantage is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage, it seems that the employees of Sponsorship Advantage don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sponsorship Advantage is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage | 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage are -
Buying journey improvements
– Sponsorship Advantage can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sponsorship Advantage 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, Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sponsorship Advantage 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, Sponsorship Advantage can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sponsorship Advantage 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.
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. Sponsorship Advantage 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. Sponsorship Advantage 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. Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sponsorship Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sponsorship Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sponsorship Advantage to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sponsorship Advantage is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Sponsorship Advantage 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. Sponsorship Advantage can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sponsorship Advantage 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.
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 Sponsorship Advantage in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sponsorship Advantage with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Sponsorship Advantage business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Sponsorship Advantage needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Sponsorship Advantage
– 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 Sponsorship Advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage, Sponsorship Advantage 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Sponsorship Advantage 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Evaluating Sponsorship through the Lens of the Resource-Based View: The Potential for Sustained Competitive Advantage 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 Sponsorship Advantage needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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