Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously
As traditional television advertisements continue to lose their effectiveness, brand managers are being more pressured to think creatively by going undercover to reach consumers surreptitiously. To capture the attention of jaded, fickle consumers, they are urged to devise below-the-radar approaches that are harder to detect. Examines six stealth marketing techniques and shows how stealth marketing is a viable alternative to obtrusive conventional advertising. Some stealth efforts are so subtle that consumers do not know they are being pitched to. There are emerging ethical and legal issues raised by critics of these techniques. Although some stealth marketing campaigns are setting off alarms with consumer watchdog groups, these techniques will inevitably grow more common. They have a powerful role to play when they are tastefully implemented and respect consumers' intelligence. Brand managers are gambling that the benefits of stealth marketing will outweigh the complaints of its critics.
Swot Analysis of "Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously" written by Jack G. Kaikati, Andrew M. Kaikati includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stealth Surreptitiously facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stealth Surreptitiously, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stealth Surreptitiously
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 Stealth Surreptitiously
Strengths Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stealth Surreptitiously in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Stealth Surreptitiously 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)
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Stealth Surreptitiously is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Analytics focus
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Jack G. Kaikati, Andrew M. Kaikati 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Stealth Surreptitiously is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stealth Surreptitiously is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Stealth Surreptitiously has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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.
Organizational Resilience of Stealth Surreptitiously
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stealth Surreptitiously does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Stealth Surreptitiously has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stealth Surreptitiously to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Stealth Surreptitiously is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stealth Surreptitiously is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Stealth Surreptitiously supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stealth Surreptitiously vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stealth Surreptitiously has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stealth Surreptitiously, firm in the HBR case study Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jack G. Kaikati, Andrew M. Kaikati suggests that, Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Stealth Surreptitiously products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stealth Surreptitiously needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously HBR case study mentions - Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously | 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously are -
Buying journey improvements
– Stealth Surreptitiously can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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.
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. Stealth Surreptitiously 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. Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stealth Surreptitiously to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Stealth Surreptitiously can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Stealth Surreptitiously to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously case study. Stealth Surreptitiously can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stealth Surreptitiously is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Stealth Surreptitiously 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, Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stealth Surreptitiously 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stealth Surreptitiously has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously, Stealth Surreptitiously 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Stealth Surreptitiously 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. Stealth Surreptitiously can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Stealth Surreptitiously can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Stealth Surreptitiously in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Stealth Surreptitiously.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Stealth Surreptitiously with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Stealth Surreptitiously
– 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 Stealth Surreptitiously.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stealth Surreptitiously is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Stealth Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously 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 Stealth Surreptitiously needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.