APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
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 - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bakers Appletons has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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.
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.
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 Appleton'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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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 Appleton'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.
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 Appleton's Agent needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton'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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As APPLETON V. BAKER - Confidential Information for Appleton's Agent HBR case study mentions - Bakers Appletons 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.
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 -
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.
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 Appleton'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.
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 Bakers Appletons in the consumer business. Now Bakers Appletons can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bakers Appletons can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Appleton'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.
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.
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 Appleton'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.
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 -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bakers Appletons can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Bakers Appletons.
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 .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Bakers Appletons 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
