Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World
This case describes the history, operations, and economics of Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway) in Sonoma, California, and the challenges facing the racetrack as a result of the economic recession of 2008-9. The racetrack's most important race is a NASCAR Sprint Cup event. It also hosts IndyCar, NHRA drag races, and other events. Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the track in 1996, and made substantial a capital investment to improve the spectator experience. The track is heavily dependent, financially, on corporate sponsorship. Its naming rights agreement with Infineon Technologies was expiring in 2012, and many of its other corporate sponsors were cutting back or ending their sponsorships due to economic stress. The case describes the advantages of corporate sponsorship, and the ways in which a company can utilized sponsorship to build its brand, reward and motivate employees, drive retail traffic to stores and distributors, and entertain customers. The case includes a 10 page appendix with background information of the basic types of motor racing and descriptions of major racetracks in California.
Authors :: George Foster, Norm O'Reilly, David W. Hoyt
Swot Analysis of "Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World" written by George Foster, Norm O'Reilly, David W. Hoyt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Raceway Infineon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Motivating people and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Raceway Infineon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Raceway Infineon 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Raceway Infineon
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 Raceway Infineon
Strengths Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Raceway Infineon in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Raceway Infineon 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Raceway Infineon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Raceway Infineon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Raceway Infineon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World 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
– Raceway Infineon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Raceway Infineon 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 Raceway Infineon digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Raceway Infineon 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.
Learning organization
- Raceway Infineon 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 Raceway Infineon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Raceway Infineon in the sector have low bargaining power. Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Raceway Infineon to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Raceway Infineon has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Raceway Infineon 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 Raceway Infineon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Raceway Infineon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Raceway Infineon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World, in the dynamic environment Raceway Infineon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Raceway Infineon has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Raceway Infineon is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Raceway Infineon 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. Raceway Infineon even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Raceway Infineon 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Raceway Infineon, firm in the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World, is just above the industry average. Raceway Infineon 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World, it seems that the employees of Raceway Infineon 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World HBR case study mentions - Raceway Infineon 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World 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 Raceway Infineon 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Raceway Infineon 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Raceway Infineon 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.
Opportunities Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World are -
Manufacturing automation
– Raceway Infineon 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Raceway Infineon 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Raceway Infineon can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Raceway Infineon 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Raceway Infineon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Raceway Infineon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Raceway Infineon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World case study. Raceway Infineon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Raceway Infineon in the consumer business. Now Raceway Infineon can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Raceway Infineon can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Raceway Infineon operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Raceway Infineon 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
– Raceway Infineon 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Raceway Infineon 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 Raceway Infineon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Raceway Infineon 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.
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 Raceway Infineon 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. Raceway Infineon 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. Raceway Infineon 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.
Threats Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Raceway Infineon with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Raceway Infineon 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. Raceway Infineon 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Raceway Infineon 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.
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 Raceway Infineon 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 Raceway Infineon.
Regulatory challenges
– Raceway Infineon 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Raceway Infineon is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Raceway Infineon 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.
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. Raceway Infineon 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Raceway Infineon 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Raceway Infineon 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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 Raceway Infineon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.