APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent
Accompanied by product #PON043.The Appletons and Bakers own homes on adjacent parcels of land. Larry Appleton has been transferred by his company and is selling his home. The Appletons also own a half lot between their lot and the Bakers' lot, which is too small to be buildable in its own right. The Appletons wish to sell this half lot to the Bakers, because the purchasers of their home are not interested in the half lot, and the Bakers are the only abutters who would be interested. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent" written by Lawrence Susskind includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bakers Appletons facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bakers Appletons, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bakers Appletons
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bakers Appletons
Strengths APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bakers Appletons in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Bakers Appletons has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bakers Appletons to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bakers Appletons is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bakers Appletons to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bakers Appletons to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bakers Appletons is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bakers Appletons in the sector have low bargaining power. APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bakers Appletons to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Bakers Appletons 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 Lawrence Susskind 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bakers Appletons 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 Bakers Appletons 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bakers Appletons is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Bakers Appletons 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 Bakers Appletons is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bakers Appletons digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bakers Appletons 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.
Weaknesses APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bakers Appletons 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. Bakers Appletons 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bakers Appletons is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bakers Appletons 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent, it seems that the employees of Bakers Appletons 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bakers Appletons, firm in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Bakers Appletons 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 Bakers Appletons 's lucrative customers.
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 Bakers Appletons supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bakers Appletons vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bakers Appletons is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Bakers Appletons needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bakers Appletons to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bakers Appletons is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bakers Appletons 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.
Opportunities APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent | 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bakers Appletons 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 Bakers Appletons to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bakers Appletons can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bakers Appletons to increase its market reach. Bakers Appletons 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bakers Appletons 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bakers Appletons has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bakers Appletons to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent case study. Bakers Appletons can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bakers Appletons can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bakers Appletons 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bakers Appletons to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bakers Appletons can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bakers Appletons operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bakers Appletons 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bakers Appletons is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Bakers Appletons can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bakers Appletons 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 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bakers Appletons in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bakers Appletons 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bakers Appletons is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Bakers Appletons 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. Bakers Appletons can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Bakers Appletons business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Bakers Appletons in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bakers Appletons has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bakers Appletons needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bakers Appletons with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Bakers Appletons 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Baker's Agent 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 Bakers Appletons needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.