Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World
The Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever built and was launched in 2009 in the midst of the financial crisis. Two analysts from ELP Equities, a Florida-based research firm, are trying to determine which cruise customer segments the Oasis is targeted at. The information they have gathered allows them to conduct a customer segmentation analysis is preparation for a hypothetical meeting with the marketing director of Royal Caribbean International, the corporation that commissioned the Oasis.
Swot Analysis of "Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World" written by Ken Mark, Michael Taylor includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Oasis Cruise facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Oasis Cruise, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Oasis Cruise
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 Oasis Cruise
Strengths Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Oasis Cruise in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Oasis Cruise in the sector have low bargaining power. Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Oasis Cruise to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Oasis Cruise is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Oasis Cruise has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Oasis Cruise 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.
Organizational Resilience of Oasis Cruise
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Oasis Cruise does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Oasis Cruise has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis Cruise in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Oasis Cruise is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Oasis Cruise digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Oasis Cruise 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.
Analytics focus
– Oasis Cruise 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 Ken Mark, Michael Taylor 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Oasis Cruise is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Oasis Cruise to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Oasis Cruise to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Oasis Cruise 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World HBR case study mentions - Oasis Cruise 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World, it seems that the employees of Oasis Cruise 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ken Mark, Michael Taylor suggests that, Oasis Cruise 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis Cruise has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Oasis Cruise, firm in the HBR case study Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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, Oasis Cruise 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World, is just above the industry average. Oasis Cruise 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.
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 Oasis Cruise supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Oasis Cruise vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World | 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World are -
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 Oasis Cruise 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.
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. Oasis Cruise 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. Oasis Cruise 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Oasis Cruise 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Oasis Cruise 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Oasis Cruise is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis Cruise to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Oasis Cruise to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Oasis Cruise 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Oasis Cruise 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
– Oasis Cruise can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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.
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 Oasis Cruise in the consumer business. Now Oasis Cruise can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Oasis Cruise 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Oasis Cruise to increase its market reach. Oasis Cruise 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.
Threats Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World are -
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. Oasis Cruise 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World, Oasis Cruise 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Oasis Cruise
– 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 Oasis Cruise.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World .
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 Oasis Cruise business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Oasis Cruise.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Oasis Cruise 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 Oasis Cruise in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Oasis Cruise 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.
Environmental challenges
– Oasis Cruise 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. Oasis Cruise can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
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. Oasis Cruise needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Oasis Cruise needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis of the Seas: The Largest Cruise Liner in the World 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 Oasis Cruise needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
