Marquee: The Business of Nightlife SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Marquee: The Business of Nightlife
In December 2008, nightlife impresario Noah Tepperberg is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his New York City nightclub Marquee. While most clubs are over within their first one-and-a-half years, Tepperberg has succeeded in keeping Marquee one of NYC's hottest clubs for what seems an eternity in the nightlife industry. However, concerns remain about Marquee's staying power, rising costs, and increased competition. When is the right time for Tepperberg to pull the plug on Marquee?
Authors :: Anita Elberse, Ryan Barlow, Sheldon Wong
Swot Analysis of "Marquee: The Business of Nightlife" written by Anita Elberse, Ryan Barlow, Sheldon Wong includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Marquee Nightlife facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Marquee: The Business of Nightlife casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Marquee: The Business of Nightlife
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Marquee Nightlife, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Marquee Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Marquee Nightlife
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 Marquee Nightlife
Strengths Marquee: The Business of Nightlife | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Marquee Nightlife in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Marquee Nightlife 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.
Training and development
– Marquee Nightlife has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Marquee Nightlife digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Marquee Nightlife 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Marquee Nightlife is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Marquee: The Business of Nightlife Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Marquee Nightlife has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Marquee Nightlife to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Marquee Nightlife
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Marquee Nightlife does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Marquee Nightlife 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Marquee Nightlife is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Marquee: The Business of Nightlife firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Marquee Nightlife to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Marquee Nightlife to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Marquee Nightlife has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Marquee Nightlife 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Marquee Nightlife in the sector have low bargaining power. Marquee: The Business of Nightlife has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Marquee Nightlife to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Marquee: The Business of Nightlife | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Marquee: The Business of Nightlife are -
Need for greater diversity
– Marquee Nightlife 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Marquee Nightlife is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Marquee Nightlife supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Marquee: The Business of Nightlife, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Marquee Nightlife vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Marquee Nightlife products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Marquee Nightlife needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Marquee Nightlife 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 - Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife, it seems that the employees of Marquee Nightlife 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Marquee Nightlife, firm in the HBR case study Marquee: The Business of Nightlife needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Marquee: The Business of Nightlife, 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anita Elberse, Ryan Barlow, Sheldon Wong suggests that, Marquee Nightlife 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Marquee Nightlife is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Marquee Nightlife needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Marquee Nightlife to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Marquee Nightlife 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. Marquee Nightlife 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.
Opportunities Marquee: The Business of Nightlife | 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Marquee Nightlife can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Marquee Nightlife operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Marquee Nightlife 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.
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. Marquee Nightlife can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Marquee Nightlife 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Marquee Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Marquee Nightlife 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 Marquee Nightlife 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
– Marquee Nightlife 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, Marquee Nightlife 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, Marquee: The Business of Nightlife, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Marquee Nightlife 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. Marquee Nightlife 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Marquee Nightlife to increase its market reach. Marquee Nightlife will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Marquee Nightlife has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Marquee Nightlife to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Marquee: The Business of Nightlife case study. Marquee Nightlife can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Marquee Nightlife is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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.
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 Marquee Nightlife in the consumer business. Now Marquee Nightlife can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Marquee: The Business of Nightlife External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Marquee: The Business of Nightlife are -
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.
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. Marquee Nightlife can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Marquee Nightlife 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Marquee Nightlife 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Marquee: The Business of Nightlife, Marquee Nightlife 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Marquee Nightlife 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.
Environmental challenges
– Marquee Nightlife 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. Marquee Nightlife 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 Marquee Nightlife with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Marquee Nightlife business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Marquee Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife .
Regulatory challenges
– Marquee Nightlife 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Marquee Nightlife 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee: The Business of Nightlife 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 Marquee Nightlife needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
