Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video
Designed for use in class as an epilogue to the story of the struggle to solve creative problems on Gillette's Dry Idea antiperspirant. The videotape announces the bake-off competition winner: BBDO. It also shows excerpts from interviews conducted a year and a half later with Gillette and BBDO managers addressing the questions: Was the bake-off a good idea? Was it a success?
Swot Analysis of "Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video" written by Thomas V. Bonoma, Shirley M. Spence includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bbdo Bake facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bbdo Bake, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bbdo Bake 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bbdo Bake
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 Bbdo Bake
Strengths Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bbdo Bake in Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bbdo Bake in the sector have low bargaining power. Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bbdo Bake to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bbdo Bake 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Bbdo Bake has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bbdo Bake to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Bbdo Bake 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 Bbdo Bake in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bbdo Bake has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bbdo Bake 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bbdo Bake 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bbdo Bake is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bbdo Bake in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bbdo Bake 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.
Analytics focus
– Bbdo Bake 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 Thomas V. Bonoma, Shirley M. Spence 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bbdo Bake to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bbdo Bake to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bbdo Bake digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bbdo Bake 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.
Weaknesses Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bbdo Bake is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bbdo Bake 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 - Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bbdo Bake 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. Bbdo Bake 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bbdo Bake 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 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 Bbdo Bake supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bbdo Bake vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video HBR case study mentions - Bbdo Bake 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video, in the dynamic environment Bbdo Bake has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bbdo Bake has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bbdo Bake products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bbdo Bake needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Bbdo Bake 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video, is just above the industry average. Bbdo Bake 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.
Opportunities Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video | 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video are -
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. Bbdo Bake 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. Bbdo Bake 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bbdo Bake 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bbdo Bake 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bbdo Bake 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.
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. Bbdo Bake can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bbdo Bake 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bbdo Bake to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Bbdo Bake in the consumer business. Now Bbdo Bake can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bbdo Bake can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bbdo Bake has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bbdo Bake to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video case study. Bbdo Bake can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bbdo Bake can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bbdo Bake operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bbdo Bake 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 Bbdo Bake to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Bbdo Bake 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bbdo Bake can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video are -
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 Bbdo Bake business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Bbdo Bake 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. Bbdo Bake can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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 Bbdo Bake.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video, Bbdo Bake 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bbdo Bake 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bbdo Bake 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bbdo Bake with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bbdo Bake has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bbdo Bake 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. Bbdo Bake 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bbdo Bake 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bbdo Bake 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video 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 Bbdo Bake needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.