Case Study Description of Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionSupplement for B5792
Authors :: Kellie A. McElhaney
Topics :: Sales & Marketing
Tags :: Customers, Diversity, Gender, Public relations, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement" written by Kellie A. McElhaney includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that B5792 Collectionsupplement facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Diversity, Gender, Public relations, Social responsibility and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the B5792 Collectionsupplement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of B5792 Collectionsupplement
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 B5792 Collectionsupplement
Strengths Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of B5792 Collectionsupplement in Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the B5792 Collectionsupplement are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Highly skilled collaborators
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Kellie A. McElhaney 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of B5792 Collectionsupplement in the sector have low bargaining power. Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps B5792 Collectionsupplement to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– B5792 Collectionsupplement has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled B5792 Collectionsupplement to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 B5792 Collectionsupplement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– B5792 Collectionsupplement is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For B5792 Collectionsupplement digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Training and development
– B5792 Collectionsupplement has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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.
Strong track record of project management
– B5792 Collectionsupplement is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement HBR case study mentions - B5792 Collectionsupplement takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, B5792 Collectionsupplement 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. B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of B5792 Collectionsupplement is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. B5792 Collectionsupplement needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help B5792 Collectionsupplement to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 B5792 Collectionsupplement has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement, is just above the industry average. B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of B5792 Collectionsupplement products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, B5792 Collectionsupplement needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as B5792 Collectionsupplement is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement, 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.
Opportunities Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement | 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects B5792 Collectionsupplement can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– B5792 Collectionsupplement can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
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. B5792 Collectionsupplement 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. B5792 Collectionsupplement 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
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Buying journey improvements
– B5792 Collectionsupplement can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, B5792 Collectionsupplement can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that B5792 Collectionsupplement operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 B5792 Collectionsupplement to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help B5792 Collectionsupplement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, B5792 Collectionsupplement is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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.
Threats Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of B5792 Collectionsupplement.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, B5792 Collectionsupplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
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 B5792 Collectionsupplement business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. B5792 Collectionsupplement can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. B5792 Collectionsupplement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Environmental challenges
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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. B5792 Collectionsupplement can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– B5792 Collectionsupplement has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Regulatory challenges
– B5792 Collectionsupplement 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that B5792 Collectionsupplement is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 B5792 Collectionsupplement in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 Wal-Mart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative Exhibit - Supplement 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 B5792 Collectionsupplement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.