APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent
Accompanied by product #PON044.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 Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bakers Appletons is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bakers Appletons is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bakers Appletons 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 APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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 Appleton's Agent Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Training and development
– Bakers Appletons has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bakers Appletons in the sector have low bargaining power. APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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.
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 Appleton's Agent HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Weaknesses APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bakers Appletons 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent, in the dynamic environment Bakers Appletons has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bakers Appletons has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lawrence Susskind suggests that, Bakers Appletons is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bakers Appletons 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent, is just above the industry average. Bakers Appletons 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bakers Appletons is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bakers Appletons products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bakers Appletons needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton's Agent are -
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. Bakers Appletons can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Bakers Appletons 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bakers Appletons 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, APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bakers Appletons in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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.
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.
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.
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 Appleton'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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bakers Appletons 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. Bakers Appletons 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 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.
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bakers Appletons can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Threats APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton'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.
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.
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.
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 Appleton'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.
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.
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.
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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Bakers Appletons needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Bakers Appletons
– 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 Bakers Appletons.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton'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 Appleton'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.