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 - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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 -
Analytics focus
– Raceway Infineon 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 George Foster, Norm O'Reilly, David W. Hoyt 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
– Raceway Infineon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Raceway Infineon is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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.
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.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Raceway Infineon are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Raceway Infineon 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.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Raceway Infineon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Raceway Infineon products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Raceway Infineon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Raceway Infineon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Raceway Infineon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Raceway Infineon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Raceway Infineon can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Raceway Infineon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Raceway Infineon to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Threats 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.
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 .
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.
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. Raceway Infineon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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. Raceway Infineon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Raceway Infineon 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Infineon Raceway (Sears Point Raceway): Marketing in the Motorsports World, Raceway Infineon 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 .
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Raceway Infineon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Raceway Infineon 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.
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.
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.