Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun
The performance of Wonderla, the leader in the amusement park industry in South India, for the year 2011/12 could not be better. It grew at 30 per cent with more than one million customers visiting each of its two parks in Kochi and Bangalore. It also completed the development of a three-star hotel in its Bangalore park. Its growth is creating challenges that it has not faced before. The chief executive officer is concerned with the issue of prioritizing investment among its different businesses as the existing amusement parks are growing and new parks are being planned in two new locations. At the same time, effort is required to create demand for the hotel business. The concern extends beyond investment to examining the option of leveraging the brand Wonderla, which stands for "Fun," to its hotel, with attendant implications for that business and for the brand and its image. Author Sanal Kumar Velayudhan is affiliated with the Indian Institute of Management. Author Kochouseph Chittilappilly is affiliated with V-Guard Industries Ltd.
Swot Analysis of "Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun" written by Sanal Kumar Velayudhan, Kochouseph Chittilappilly includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wonderla Parks facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wonderla Parks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wonderla Parks 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wonderla Parks
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 Wonderla Parks
Strengths Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wonderla Parks in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wonderla Parks 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.
Training and development
– Wonderla Parks has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wonderla Parks has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wonderla Parks 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.
Analytics focus
– Wonderla Parks 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 Sanal Kumar Velayudhan, Kochouseph Chittilappilly 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Wonderla Parks is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Wonderla Parks 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 Wonderla Parks is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wonderla Parks is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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
– Wonderla Parks has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wonderla Parks to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Wonderla Parks is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wonderla Parks 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wonderla Parks to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wonderla Parks to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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.
Weaknesses Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun, in the dynamic environment Wonderla Parks has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wonderla Parks has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Wonderla Parks has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Wonderla Parks 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. Wonderla Parks 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, Wonderla Parks 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wonderla Parks products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wonderla Parks 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonderla Parks 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun, it seems that the employees of Wonderla Parks 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonderla Parks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun HBR case study mentions - Wonderla Parks 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wonderla Parks is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun | 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Wonderla Parks can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wonderla Parks 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, Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wonderla Parks 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 Wonderla Parks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wonderla Parks 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Wonderla Parks can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wonderla Parks 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wonderla Parks is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wonderla Parks to increase its market reach. Wonderla Parks 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wonderla Parks can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wonderla Parks operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wonderla Parks 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wonderla Parks 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wonderla Parks to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Wonderla Parks 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. Wonderla Parks 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.
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. Wonderla Parks can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun are -
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wonderla Parks 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, Wonderla Parks 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wonderla Parks has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wonderla Parks 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. Wonderla Parks 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wonderla Parks 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.
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 Wonderla Parks in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Wonderla Parks.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wonderla Parks 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wonderla Parks with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Wonderla Parks can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Wonderla Parks needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Wonderla Parks 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. Wonderla Parks can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonder la: A Brand in the Service of Fun 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 Wonderla Parks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
