Case Study Description of ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity
Associated Foods is considering a proposed program barter deal submitted by media consultancy ECM, along with other proposals to improve marketing expenditure productivity. This case allows calculation of the quantitative as well as the qualitative issues.
Swot Analysis of "ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity" written by David J. Arnold includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ecm Productivity facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ecm Productivity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ecm Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ecm Productivity
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 Ecm Productivity
Strengths ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ecm Productivity in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ecm Productivity in the sector have low bargaining power. ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ecm Productivity to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ecm Productivity 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
– Ecm Productivity is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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.
Training and development
– Ecm Productivity has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ecm Productivity digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ecm Productivity 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Ecm Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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.
Learning organization
- Ecm Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Ecm Productivity
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ecm Productivity does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ecm Productivity is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Ecm Productivity 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 David J. Arnold 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.
High brand equity
– Ecm Productivity has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ecm Productivity to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David J. Arnold suggests that, Ecm Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Ecm Productivity needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ecm Productivity to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ecm Productivity 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ecm Productivity has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ecm Productivity 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity, is just above the industry average. Ecm Productivity needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ecm Productivity, firm in the HBR case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Ecm Productivity 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.
Opportunities ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity | 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity are -
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. Ecm Productivity can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ecm Productivity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ecm Productivity to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity case study. Ecm Productivity can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Ecm Productivity 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. Ecm Productivity 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ecm Productivity 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ecm Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ecm Productivity 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ecm Productivity can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ecm Productivity 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ecm Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ecm Productivity to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ecm Productivity can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ecm Productivity 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ecm Productivity 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ecm Productivity is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity are -
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. Ecm Productivity needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ecm Productivity is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ecm Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity .
Increasing wage structure of Ecm Productivity
– 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 Ecm Productivity.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ecm Productivity 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.
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. Ecm Productivity can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ecm Productivity 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ecm Productivity has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ecm Productivity 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.
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 Ecm Productivity in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Ecm Productivity 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ecm Productivity with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity, Ecm Productivity 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 ECM Group: Improving Global Marketing Productivity 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 Ecm Productivity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.