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 - – geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Greydollarfella Retail 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 Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Greydollarfella Retail digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Greydollarfella Retail 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
– Greydollarfella Retail has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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
– Greydollarfella Retail is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Greydollarfella Retail is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity? 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
– Greydollarfella Retail has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Greydollarfella Retail to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Greydollarfella Retail 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 Stephen Ogden-Barnes, Stella Minahan can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses 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 -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Greydollarfella Retail is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Greydollarfella Retail needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Greydollarfella Retail to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Greydollarfella Retail needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Greydollarfella Retail has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Greydollarfella: An Endangered Species or a Market Opportunity?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 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.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Greydollarfella Retail 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. Greydollarfella Retail 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stephen Ogden-Barnes, Stella Minahan suggests that, Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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 -
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.
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. Greydollarfella Retail can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Greydollarfella Retail can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Greydollarfella Retail 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, Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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.
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Greydollarfella Retail can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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 Greydollarfella Retail.
Increasing wage structure of Greydollarfella Retail
– 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 Greydollarfella Retail.
Environmental challenges
– Greydollarfella Retail 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. Greydollarfella Retail can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
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.
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. Greydollarfella Retail 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.
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.
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.
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.