CW: Launching a Television Network SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of CW: Launching a Television Network
In May 2006, Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment of the newly formed CW Television Network, was faced with the task of choosing the final set of programs for the 2006 fall schedule, which she would present to advertisers at the annual "upfront" market in New York one week later. Only four months earlier, CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. had announced they would close their UPN and The WB networks, and run the CW as a joint venture. This unusual partnership, a first in the history of network television, had created a unique challenge for executives: an unprecedented number of existing shows would have to be cancelled. Ostroff and her colleagues--who had received thousands of letters, petitions, and gifts from desperate fans begging for the renewal of their favorite shows--had filled the empty slots. The final decision was the toughest: although four popular shows were still in contention--Everwood, One Tree Hill, 7th Heaven, and Veronica Mars--there was only room for three. Which show would be the last to be axed? And what would be the best time slots for the three last additions to the line-up? Allows for an in-depth examination of marketing issues in launching and operating a major broadcast television network, in particular making programming and scheduling decisions and managing relationships with audiences and advertisers. Provides unique insights into the launch of a network--a rare enterprise--and the associated marketing and branding campaign. Also contains rich television ratings data that can form the basis for a discussion on product portfolio management, in particular, continuation and pruning decisions (i.e., series renewals and cancellations). Finally, can be used to facilitate an assessment of challenges and opportunities in developing sustainable businesses in a rapidly changing media environment.
Swot Analysis of "CW: Launching a Television Network" written by Anita Elberse, S. Mark Young includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cw Television facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in CW: Launching a Television Network case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Research & development, Strategic planning and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the CW: Launching a Television Network casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CW: Launching a Television Network
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in CW: Launching a Television Network case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cw Television, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cw Television 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 CW: Launching a Television Network can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in CW: Launching a Television Network case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cw Television
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 Cw Television
Strengths CW: Launching a Television Network | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cw Television in CW: Launching a Television Network Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cw Television 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 CW: Launching a Television Network - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cw Television in the sector have low bargaining power. CW: Launching a Television Network has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cw Television to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Cw Television has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in CW: Launching a Television Network 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cw Television 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cw Television
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cw Television does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Cw Television is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Cw Television in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cw Television is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the CW: Launching a Television Network are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the CW: Launching a Television Network 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cw Television is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in CW: Launching a Television Network 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cw Television is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in CW: Launching a Television Network Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Cw Television 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 Anita Elberse, S. Mark Young 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cw Television 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 CW: Launching a Television Network HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses CW: Launching a Television Network | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CW: Launching a Television Network are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study CW: Launching a Television Network, in the dynamic environment Cw Television has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cw Television has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cw Television 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cw Television 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the CW: Launching a Television Network 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 Cw Television has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study CW: Launching a Television Network 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 Cw Television 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cw Television is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Cw Television needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cw Television 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, Cw Television is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study CW: Launching a Television Network can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study CW: Launching a Television Network 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 CW: Launching a Television Network can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cw Television is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Cw Television supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - CW: Launching a Television Network, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cw Television vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cw Television has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CW: Launching a Television Network HBR case study mentions - Cw Television 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.
Opportunities CW: Launching a Television Network | 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 CW: Launching a Television Network are -
Manufacturing automation
– Cw Television 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.
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 Cw Television 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. Cw Television 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. Cw Television 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cw Television 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cw Television 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cw Television 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cw Television is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CW: Launching a Television Network 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 Cw Television to increase its market reach. Cw Television 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cw Television 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, CW: Launching a Television Network, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cw Television can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cw Television 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cw Television 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 Cw Television to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cw Television 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.
Threats CW: Launching a Television Network External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study CW: Launching a Television Network are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cw Television 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cw Television 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cw Television with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Cw Television
– 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 Cw Television.
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 Cw Television business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Cw Television 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. Cw Television can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study CW: Launching a Television Network, Cw Television 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 .
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 Cw Television in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cw Television is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cw Television 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 Cw Television.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CW: Launching a Television Network 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 CW: Launching a Television Network 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 CW: Launching a Television Network 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 CW: Launching a Television Network 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 CW: Launching a Television Network 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 Cw Television needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
