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dpms. - The Price of Earned Media SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of dpms. - The Price of Earned Media


In April 2014, the co-founder of lifestyle brand dpms., situated in London, Ontario, has a dilemma. Started as an opportunity to showcase her partner's graphic designs, dpms. first produced silk-screened t-shirts, then branched into jewelry and other locally produced products as the company succeeded. They maintain a booth at a weekly farmers' and artisans' market and travel to other festivals around the province but rely mainly on word-of-mouth promotion and their social media presence to advertise their wares. She was excited about an article that was to appear in a local newspaper, but when the article was published, it contained several inaccuracies. She is deciding how she should handle the situation and how the options to confront or not confront the reporter will reflect on her fledgling company.

Authors :: Julia Cutt, Mary Weil

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Public relations, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "dpms. - The Price of Earned Media" written by Julia Cutt, Mary Weil includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dpms Confront facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations and Sales & Marketing.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the dpms. - The Price of Earned Media casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of dpms. - The Price of Earned Media


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dpms Confront, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dpms Confront 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dpms Confront
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 Dpms Confront




Strengths dpms. - The Price of Earned Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Dpms Confront in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Dpms Confront is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Learning organization

- Dpms Confront 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 Dpms Confront is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Dpms Confront is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the dpms. - The Price of Earned Media are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High brand equity

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Dpms Confront is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Dpms Confront 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Dpms Confront 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Dpms Confront is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Organizational Resilience of Dpms Confront

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dpms Confront does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Dpms Confront 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.






Weaknesses dpms. - The Price of Earned Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of dpms. - The Price of Earned Media are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 Dpms Confront has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Dpms Confront 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 - dpms. - The Price of Earned Media should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media, it seems that the employees of Dpms Confront 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 Dpms Confront 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Dpms Confront 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media, in the dynamic environment Dpms Confront has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dpms Confront has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Julia Cutt, Mary Weil suggests that, Dpms Confront is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 Dpms Confront 's lucrative customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Dpms Confront has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

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 Dpms Confront supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - dpms. - The Price of Earned Media, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dpms Confront vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Dpms Confront, firm in the HBR case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.




Opportunities dpms. - The Price of Earned Media | 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dpms Confront 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Dpms Confront has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dpms Confront to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the dpms. - The Price of Earned Media case study. Dpms Confront can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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. Dpms Confront can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Manufacturing automation

– Dpms Confront 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dpms Confront 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, dpms. - The Price of Earned Media, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dpms Confront can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dpms Confront operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dpms Confront 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Dpms Confront 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Dpms Confront 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. Dpms Confront 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. Dpms Confront 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Dpms Confront 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dpms Confront can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Buying journey improvements

– Dpms Confront can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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.




Threats dpms. - The Price of Earned Media External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media are -

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 Dpms Confront business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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. Dpms Confront 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.

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 Dpms Confront.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Dpms Confront 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.

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. Dpms Confront can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study dpms. - The Price of Earned Media, Dpms Confront 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

– Dpms Confront 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. Dpms Confront 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 Dpms Confront 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

– Dpms Confront has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dpms Confront 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Dpms Confront 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.

Increasing wage structure of Dpms Confront

– 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 Dpms Confront.

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. Dpms Confront 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 Dpms Confront is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 dpms. - The Price of Earned Media 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 Dpms Confront needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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