Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame
A Latin-based urban music ensemble, Calle 13, shapes its art form to redefine the rap/reggaeton scene that is predominant in Latin America. This redefinition includes political and social backlash towards the leaders of various countries, including the band members' homeland of Puerto Rico. While the group's political and social criticism results in some welcome exposure for the musicians, it also results in cancelled shows. The group wants to expand its market, and the members must decide how to proceed: Should the band shed its controversial image in an effort to gain a broader degree of public acceptance? Should it maintain the current style, provoking and delighting listeners with its sometimes scandalous antics? Authors Valerie Rivera Lozada and Victor Quinones are affiliated with University of Puerto Rico.
Swot Analysis of "Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame" written by Valerie Rivera Lozada, Victor Quinones includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Calle Band facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Calle Band, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Calle Band 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Calle Band
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 Calle Band
Strengths Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Calle Band in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Calle Band 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Calle Band digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Calle Band 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Calle Band is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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.
High brand equity
– Calle Band has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Calle Band to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Calle Band 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 Calle Band is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Calle Band has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Calle Band in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Calle Band has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Calle Band 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Calle Band is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Calle Band 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 Calle Band in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Calle Band 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Calle Band 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 Valerie Rivera Lozada, Victor Quinones 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Calle Band 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Calle Band is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Valerie Rivera Lozada, Victor Quinones suggests that, Calle Band 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Calle Band 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 - Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle Band 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, in the dynamic environment Calle Band has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Calle Band has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Calle Band, firm in the HBR case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Calle Band 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle Band has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, is just above the industry average. Calle Band 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Calle Band is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame | 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Calle Band 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.
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 Calle Band 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Calle Band can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Calle Band can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Calle Band operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Calle Band 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, Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Calle Band 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. Calle Band 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.
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. Calle Band can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Calle Band 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Calle Band to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Calle Band can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Calle Band in the consumer business. Now Calle Band can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Calle Band 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Calle Band can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Calle Band 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.
Threats Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Calle Band in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Calle Band is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Calle Band 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, Calle Band 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Calle Band with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Calle Band 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.
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. Calle Band 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.
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. Calle Band can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Calle Band business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Calle Band 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, Calle Band 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame .
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. Calle Band needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 Calle Band needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
