Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships

Stealth, or undercover, marketing involves the disguising of marketing communications that marketers undertake to purposefully influence their audiences without the audiences being aware of these activities. Inasmuch as stealth marketing involves secrecy (the withholding of information) and miscommunication (the communication of partial or misleading information), it is at least on some level duplicitous. Duplicity is the double act of secrecy and misrepresentation. In this article we explore duplicity in marketing communications. Specifically, we deconstruct the movie The Joneses to explore the various ways in which both marketers and consumers employ duplicity in their communications-to each other and themselves. We conclude by exploring the ethical and functional issues duplicity raises, and suggest that irony is one way in which duplicity can be ethically and productively employed.

Authors :: Ekin Pehlivan, Pierre R. Berthon, Mine U. Hughes, Jean-Paul Berthon

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Social platforms, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships" written by Ekin Pehlivan, Pierre R. Berthon, Mine U. Hughes, Jean-Paul Berthon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Duplicity Stealth facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Duplicity Stealth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Duplicity Stealth 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Duplicity Stealth
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 Duplicity Stealth

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Strengths Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Duplicity Stealth in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships Harvard Business Review case study are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Duplicity Stealth 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Duplicity Stealth 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Duplicity Stealth in the sector have low bargaining power. Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Duplicity Stealth to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Duplicity Stealth 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

– Duplicity Stealth is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Duplicity Stealth has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Duplicity Stealth 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Duplicity Stealth is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Duplicity Stealth 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.

Learning organization

- Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry

– Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Duplicity Stealth to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Duplicity Stealth to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High brand equity

– Duplicity Stealth has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Duplicity Stealth to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

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Weaknesses Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Duplicity Stealth is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Duplicity Stealth 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships, it seems that the employees of Duplicity Stealth 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Duplicity Stealth products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Duplicity Stealth needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Duplicity Stealth 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships, is just above the industry average. Duplicity Stealth 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships, in the dynamic environment Duplicity Stealth has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Duplicity Stealth has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Duplicity Stealth has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Duplicity Stealth even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth 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 - Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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 Duplicity Stealth supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Duplicity Stealth vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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Opportunities Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships | 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Duplicity Stealth 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.

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. Duplicity Stealth 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. Duplicity Stealth 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.

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. Duplicity Stealth can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Duplicity Stealth in the consumer business. Now Duplicity Stealth can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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 Duplicity Stealth 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Duplicity Stealth 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 Duplicity Stealth 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. Duplicity Stealth can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Duplicity Stealth to increase its market reach. Duplicity Stealth will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Duplicity Stealth has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Duplicity Stealth to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships case study. Duplicity Stealth 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, Duplicity Stealth 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Duplicity Stealth 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Duplicity Stealth 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Duplicity Stealth 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.

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Threats Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Duplicity Stealth 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. Duplicity Stealth 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Duplicity Stealth 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.

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 Duplicity Stealth.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Duplicity Stealth is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

Environmental challenges

– Duplicity Stealth 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. Duplicity Stealth can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Duplicity Stealth 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.

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. Duplicity Stealth 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Duplicity Stealth has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Duplicity Stealth 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 wage structure of Duplicity Stealth

– 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 Duplicity Stealth.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships, Duplicity Stealth 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 .

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Keeping up with The Joneses: Stealth, secrets, and duplicity in marketing relationships 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 Duplicity Stealth needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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