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 - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, 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 -
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Calle Band is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Calle Band is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Calle Band
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Calle Band does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Calle Band to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Calle Band to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Calle Band 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 Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, 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.
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.
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 Calle Band supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Calle Band vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Calle Band 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Calle Band is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Calle Band needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Calle Band to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Calle Band 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. Calle Band 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Calle Band 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.
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.
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 -
Developing new processes and practices
– Calle Band 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Calle Band 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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Calle Band 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 Calle Band to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Calle Band 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Calle Band 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Calle Band is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Calle 13: The Urban Band Route to Fame 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 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 -
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.
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 .
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Calle Band
– 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 Calle Band.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Calle Band 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Calle Band has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Calle Band 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.
Environmental challenges
– Calle Band 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. Calle Band can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.