Case Study Description of Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies
The case describes an entrepreneurial firm, CoCubes, which has instituted a paradigm change in the way campus recruitment is done in India. In a paradoxical environment of high availability of formally educated, yet not readily employable talent pool in a growing economy and a concomitant challenge faced by all recruiting firms in being able to identify and attract high quality talent, CoCubes offers unique value propositions to a dual set of customers (viz., the colleges and the companies that are recruiting from campuses), only one of which is a paying customer (colleges). Within such an environment, it is critical for CoCubes to effectively manage the engagement with the recruiting companies and try and change their mindset to recruit from non-established non-premier institutes. On the other hand, the colleges have conventionally never paid to get their students placed. Getting colleges to pay is critical for CoCubes to succeed and grow. This necessitates colleges to see value in CoCubes' offerings. In this context, one of the challenges for CoCubes is to find ways to increase the value of its offerings, especially given the emergence of significant competition that is attempting to mimic the CoCubes business model. CoCubes also partners with various companies in enhancing skills of the candidates. With these partners, CoCubes faces the additional challenge of managing partner relationships and developing new product offerings, in order to stay ahead of the competition. All this calls for continual innovation and flawless execution in order to maintain its initial lead over current and emerging competition. The case is ideal for elective courses on Business-to-business Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Product & Services Marketing.
Swot Analysis of "Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies" written by Debolina Dutta, D.V.R. Seshadri includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cocubes Colleges facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cocubes Colleges, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cocubes Colleges
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 Cocubes Colleges
Strengths Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cocubes Colleges in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes Colleges in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cocubes Colleges in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cocubes Colleges in the sector have low bargaining power. Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cocubes Colleges to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cocubes Colleges has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cocubes Colleges 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.
Training and development
– Cocubes Colleges has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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.
Learning organization
- Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes Colleges is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cocubes Colleges 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cocubes Colleges
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cocubes Colleges does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cocubes Colleges is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Cocubes Colleges 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 Debolina Dutta, D.V.R. Seshadri 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.
Weaknesses Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies, it seems that the employees of Cocubes Colleges 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies, 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cocubes Colleges is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cocubes Colleges is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Cocubes Colleges needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cocubes Colleges to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes Colleges 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 - Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cocubes Colleges 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. Cocubes Colleges 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies, in the dynamic environment Cocubes Colleges has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cocubes Colleges has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cocubes Colleges, firm in the HBR case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes Colleges 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cocubes Colleges products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cocubes Colleges needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies | 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cocubes Colleges has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cocubes Colleges to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies case study. Cocubes Colleges can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Cocubes Colleges 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.
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. Cocubes Colleges 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. Cocubes Colleges 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cocubes Colleges can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cocubes Colleges operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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 Cocubes Colleges in the consumer business. Now Cocubes Colleges can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Cocubes Colleges can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cocubes Colleges 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.
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 Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes Colleges to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cocubes Colleges can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cocubes Colleges 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cocubes Colleges 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, Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Cocubes Colleges can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cocubes Colleges in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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. Cocubes Colleges can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Cocubes Colleges business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
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. Cocubes Colleges needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cocubes Colleges is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cocubes Colleges 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cocubes Colleges 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cocubes Colleges with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cocubes Colleges has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cocubes Colleges 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.
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 Cocubes Colleges.
Increasing wage structure of Cocubes Colleges
– 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 Cocubes Colleges.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes.com Connecting. Colleges. Companies 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 Cocubes Colleges needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
