John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond
Examines sports sponsorship at John Hancock through 1998 and prospectively beyond. From its early sponsorship of the legendary Boston Marathon, the company had expanded its activities substantially. It was one of the worldwide "Top Sponsor" companies of the Olympics, a very significant expenditure. The company also sponsors the U.S. Tour of World Gymnastics Champions and Figure Skating Champions. Students must analyze the company's activities in the context of benefits to John Hancock and its constituencies. Considerable description is included of ways the company tries to "leverage" its sponsorships. The company's principles of sports sponsorships are included.
Swot Analysis of "John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond" written by Stephen A. Greyser, John L. Teopaco includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hancock Sponsorship facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hancock Sponsorship, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hancock Sponsorship 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hancock Sponsorship
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 Hancock Sponsorship
Strengths John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hancock Sponsorship in John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hancock Sponsorship 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.
High brand equity
– Hancock Sponsorship has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hancock Sponsorship 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
– John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hancock Sponsorship to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hancock Sponsorship to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Hancock Sponsorship 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 Hancock Sponsorship is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hancock Sponsorship in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Hancock Sponsorship is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hancock Sponsorship digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hancock Sponsorship 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hancock Sponsorship has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hancock Sponsorship in the sector have low bargaining power. John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hancock Sponsorship to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hancock Sponsorship is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hancock Sponsorship 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hancock Sponsorship, firm in the HBR case study John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond HBR case study mentions - Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hancock Sponsorship 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Hancock Sponsorship has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 Hancock Sponsorship supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hancock Sponsorship vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hancock Sponsorship 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 - John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hancock Sponsorship products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hancock Sponsorship needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hancock Sponsorship 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. Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond, it seems that the employees of Hancock Sponsorship don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hancock Sponsorship is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond | 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond are -
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. Hancock Sponsorship 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 Hancock Sponsorship in the consumer business. Now Hancock Sponsorship can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hancock Sponsorship to increase its market reach. Hancock Sponsorship will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hancock Sponsorship has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hancock Sponsorship to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond case study. Hancock Sponsorship can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hancock Sponsorship is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hancock Sponsorship 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 Hancock Sponsorship to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hancock Sponsorship 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hancock Sponsorship to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hancock Sponsorship can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hancock Sponsorship operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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 Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hancock Sponsorship 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, John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Threats John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hancock Sponsorship 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond .
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. Hancock Sponsorship 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hancock Sponsorship 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond, Hancock Sponsorship 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Hancock Sponsorship 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. Hancock Sponsorship can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hancock Sponsorship is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Hancock Sponsorship business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hancock Sponsorship 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.
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 Hancock Sponsorship.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hancock Sponsorship has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hancock Sponsorship 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 John Hancock Sports Sponsorship: 1993-2000 and Beyond 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 Hancock Sponsorship needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
