Case Study Description of Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path
The founder and president of Sport-Fresh was in the middle of a four-state road trip to meet his firm's U.S. distributors and sales representatives. He had just returned from an international trade show in Germany, and was eager to update his agents about the incredible response the company product Sport-Fresh, a disinfecting equipment spray, had received. But he was worried about the time commitment required to follow up on all the leads he had received, and juggle his normal workload at the same time. The president looked at the challenges and opportunities in front of him. He had built a growing brand and he felt as if he was at a crossroads. Sport-Fresh was the only disinfectant spray on the market; all of its other direct competitors were odor masking and perfume sprays. There was potential for growth, if he could find a way.
Swot Analysis of "Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path" written by David Sparling, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sport Fresh facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sport Fresh, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sport Fresh 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sport Fresh
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 Sport Fresh
Strengths Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sport Fresh in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport Fresh 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sport Fresh is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Sport Fresh has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sport Fresh to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sport Fresh 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sport Fresh 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sport Fresh in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sport Fresh is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sport Fresh 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sport Fresh digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sport Fresh 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
– Sport Fresh has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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.
Learning organization
- Sport Fresh 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 Sport Fresh is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David Sparling, Ken Mark suggests that, Sport Fresh 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path HBR case study mentions - Sport Fresh 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sport Fresh is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Sport Fresh 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sport Fresh 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.
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 Sport Fresh supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sport Fresh vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sport Fresh is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Sport Fresh needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sport Fresh to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sport Fresh products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sport Fresh needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path, is just above the industry average. Sport Fresh 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sport Fresh 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sport Fresh is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path | 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sport Fresh has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sport Fresh to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path case study. Sport Fresh 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 Sport Fresh 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Sport Fresh 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.
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. Sport Fresh 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. Sport Fresh 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.
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. Sport Fresh can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sport Fresh 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sport Fresh can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sport Fresh 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 Sport Fresh to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sport Fresh 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Sport Fresh can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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. Sport Fresh can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sport Fresh 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sport Fresh 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, Sport Fresh can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sport Fresh operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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. Sport Fresh can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Sport Fresh
– 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 Sport Fresh.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sport Fresh 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.
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 Sport Fresh.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sport Fresh with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sport Fresh 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sport Fresh 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sport Fresh 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path .
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 Sport Fresh 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sport Fresh 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.
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 Sport Fresh in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sport Fresh is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport-Fresh Gels: Choosing a Path 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 Sport Fresh needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
