Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B)
This is a Darden case study.In this three-part case, an established winery's first marketing director is charged with reviving the once-hot brand. Cofounded by an expert winemaker with ties to the famous ChA?teau Lafite-Rothschild, Clos Du Val had seen its glory days, with high ratings accompanied by robust sales. During the 1990s, however, sales had begun to lag, though it was unclear why. What should the new marketing director do first? How should the company allocate its marketing budget? A teaching note is available for verified faculty; a multimedia case supplement featuring interviews with the principals is also available.
Swot Analysis of "Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B)" written by Marian Moore, Gosia Glinska includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clos Val facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research, Pricing, Public relations and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clos Val, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clos Val
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 Clos Val
Strengths Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clos Val in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Clos Val 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 Marian Moore, Gosia Glinska 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) - 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
– Clos Val is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Clos Val digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Clos Val 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Clos Val is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Clos Val 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 Clos Val is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clos Val 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.
Training and development
– Clos Val has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 recruit top talent
– Clos Val is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clos Val to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clos Val to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Clos Val has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Clos Val to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B), in the dynamic environment Clos Val has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Clos Val 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, Clos Val 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. Clos Val 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clos Val products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clos Val needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Clos Val is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Clos Val, firm in the HBR case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Clos Val 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.
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 Clos Val supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Clos Val vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B), it seems that the employees of Clos Val 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Clos Val has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clos Val has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) | 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) are -
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. Clos Val 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. Clos Val 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Clos Val is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Clos Val 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 Clos Val 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Clos Val 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clos Val to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clos Val 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Clos Val 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Clos Val 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 Clos Val to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Clos Val can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Clos Val can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clos Val operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Clos Val can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clos Val to increase its market reach. Clos Val 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.
Threats Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clos Val is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Clos Val business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Clos Val in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Clos Val 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. Clos Val can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Clos Val 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 Clos Val.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clos Val has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clos Val 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B), Clos Val 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Clos Val
– 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 Clos Val.
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. Clos Val 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Clos Val 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Brooke Correll and Clos Du Val: Adventures in Napa Valley (B) 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 Clos Val needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.