Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A)
Debra Taeschler, CEO of Grafica, is considering how to structure her agency's bid for the New Jersey Lottery account. The Lottery is facing declining sales in all major categories and plans to slash its 1999 marketing budget by 32%. Taeschler is debating whether to take a conservative approach and submit a bid that builds on the Lottery's current product-focused marketing strategy or take a riskier approach and advocate an entirely new umbrella branding campaign.
Swot Analysis of "Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A)" written by Gail McGovern includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lottery Taeschler facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lottery Taeschler, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lottery Taeschler 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lottery Taeschler
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 Lottery Taeschler
Strengths Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lottery Taeschler in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lottery Taeschler 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Lottery Taeschler 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 Lottery Taeschler in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Lottery Taeschler
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lottery Taeschler 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 Lottery Taeschler 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lottery Taeschler is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lottery Taeschler 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Lottery Taeschler is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Lottery Taeschler has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lottery Taeschler to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lottery Taeschler to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Lottery Taeschler digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lottery Taeschler 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lottery Taeschler in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) HBR case study mentions - Lottery Taeschler 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Lottery Taeschler has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A), in the dynamic environment Lottery Taeschler has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lottery Taeschler has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A), 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lottery Taeschler is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Lottery Taeschler is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lottery Taeschler, firm in the HBR case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A), it seems that the employees of Lottery Taeschler 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lottery Taeschler is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Lottery Taeschler needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lottery Taeschler to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lottery Taeschler 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 Lottery Taeschler products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Lottery Taeschler needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) | 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) are -
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 Lottery Taeschler 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.
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 Lottery Taeschler in the consumer business. Now Lottery Taeschler can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lottery Taeschler 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lottery Taeschler to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Lottery Taeschler is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lottery Taeschler 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lottery Taeschler has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lottery Taeschler to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) case study. Lottery Taeschler can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lottery Taeschler 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, Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lottery Taeschler 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 Lottery Taeschler to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Lottery Taeschler 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. Lottery Taeschler 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.
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. Lottery Taeschler can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Lottery Taeschler can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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.
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. Lottery Taeschler can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lottery Taeschler can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lottery Taeschler operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Lottery Taeschler.
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 Lottery Taeschler in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Lottery Taeschler needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lottery Taeschler 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lottery Taeschler 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Lottery Taeschler 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.
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 Lottery Taeschler business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A), Lottery Taeschler 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lottery Taeschler 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lottery Taeschler 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Lottery Taeschler with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Grafica, Inc.: Winning the New Jersey Lottery (A) 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 Lottery Taeschler needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.