Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back
This article explores the rise to quality leadership by Japanese automakers, the decline in U.S. automakers' quality reputation, and whether poor quality still contributes to the U.S. automaker's competitive woes. Perception plays a key role in quality competition but not necessarily in ways that we commonly think. The ways in which information about quality performance is displayed plays an important role in customer perception. Quality should not be seen as a stand-alone asset but rather it must be understood in the context of other assets, including a firm's brand equity. It is quality's relationship to brand equity that helps explain the current quandary of U.S. automakers, and this relationship holds lessons for other industries.
Swot Analysis of "Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back" written by Robert E. Cole, Michael S. Flynn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Automakers Quality facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Automakers Quality, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Automakers Quality 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Automakers Quality
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 Automakers Quality
Strengths Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Automakers Quality in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Automakers Quality has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Automakers Quality to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Automakers Quality 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 Robert E. Cole, Michael S. Flynn 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Automakers Quality 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 Automakers Quality in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Automakers Quality digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Automakers Quality 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Automakers Quality is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Automakers Quality 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Automakers Quality has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Automakers Quality 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Automakers Quality to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Automakers Quality to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Automakers Quality
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Automakers Quality does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Automakers Quality has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Automakers Quality 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Automakers Quality 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Automakers Quality products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Automakers Quality needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Automakers Quality is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back, 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back HBR case study mentions - Automakers Quality 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automakers Quality 's lucrative customers.
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 Automakers Quality supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Automakers Quality vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back, is just above the industry average. Automakers Quality 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Automakers Quality is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Automakers Quality needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Automakers Quality to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Automakers Quality 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Automakers Quality 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 - Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back, in the dynamic environment Automakers Quality has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Automakers Quality has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back | 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Automakers Quality 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Automakers Quality in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Automakers Quality can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Automakers Quality operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Automakers Quality 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.
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. Automakers Quality 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. Automakers Quality 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Automakers Quality 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Automakers Quality 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Automakers Quality can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Automakers Quality 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Automakers Quality to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Automakers Quality can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Automakers Quality has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Automakers Quality to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back case study. Automakers Quality can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Automakers Quality 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 Automakers Quality to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Automakers Quality in the consumer business. Now Automakers Quality can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back are -
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 Automakers Quality.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back, Automakers Quality 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
– Automakers Quality 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. Automakers Quality can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Automakers Quality with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Automakers Quality needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Automakers Quality can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Automakers Quality has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Automakers Quality 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Automakers Quality 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back .
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 Automakers Quality in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Automakers Quality 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 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Automakers Quality 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Automakers Quality 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automotive Quality Reputation: Hard to Achieve, Hard to Lose, Still Harder to Win Back 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 Automakers Quality needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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