Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?
Identifies an ignored and endangered species: the mature male shopper--the Greydollarfella. Based on current research and interviews, the Greydollarfella, unlike younger men, appears not to like shopping and, so, is often ignored by retailers or excluded from the retail environment. We argue that the Greydollarfella should be included in, not sidelined from, retail and marketing considerations. He is much wealthier and less time-poor than younger men and deserves a retail environment that suits his preferences and consumer requirements. The Greydollarfella--not well understood, undervalued, and often marginalized by retail marketing strategies--offers great value for marketers and retailers willing to take the time to understand his psyche, product and service needs, and views on the retail experience.
Swot Analysis of "Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?" written by Stephen Ogden-Barnes, Stella Minahan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Greydollarfella Retail facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Demographics and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Greydollarfella Retail, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Greydollarfella Retail
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 Greydollarfella Retail
Strengths Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Greydollarfella Retail in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Greydollarfella Retail is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella Retail in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Greydollarfella Retail
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Greydollarfella Retail does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Greydollarfella Retail in the sector have low bargaining power. Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Greydollarfella Retail to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Greydollarfella Retail has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Greydollarfella Retail in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Greydollarfella Retail to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Greydollarfella Retail to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Greydollarfella Retail is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Learning organization
- Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella Retail is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? HBR case study mentions - Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?, in the dynamic environment Greydollarfella Retail has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Greydollarfella Retail has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Greydollarfella Retail products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Greydollarfella Retail is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella Retail 's lucrative customers.
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 Greydollarfella Retail supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Greydollarfella Retail vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Greydollarfella Retail, firm in the HBR case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Greydollarfella Retail 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 - Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Greydollarfella Retail is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? | 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Greydollarfella Retail can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Greydollarfella Retail has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Greydollarfella Retail to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? case study. Greydollarfella Retail can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Greydollarfella Retail in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Greydollarfella Retail 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, Greydollarfella Retail is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Greydollarfella Retail can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Greydollarfella Retail can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Greydollarfella Retail to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Greydollarfella Retail to increase its market reach. Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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. Greydollarfella Retail 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. Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella Retail to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? are -
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 Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Greydollarfella Retail 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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. Greydollarfella Retail can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Greydollarfella Retail has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Greydollarfella Retail 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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 Greydollarfella Retail business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Greydollarfella Retail is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?, Greydollarfella Retail 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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. Greydollarfella Retail needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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 Greydollarfella Retail needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
