To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.In 2006, newspaper firms in developed markets were severely threatened on three fronts: the growth of online news, online classified advertising, and free newspapers. Schibsted, however, had managed to cope with these challenges successfully, and had become something of a legend in the newspaper community. Describes the evolution of Schibsted's strategy from print media towards electronic media starting in 1995, including their choices around the internal structuring of new ventures. In September 2006, the management team confronted a few salient questions: first, should Schibsted allow Google to crawl its online news sites in Scandinavia?; and second, were Schibsted's successes within Scandinavia repeatable outside it? Indeed, how far could Schibsted's competitive advantage travel?
Swot Analysis of "Schibsted" written by Bharat N. Anand includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Schibsted's Schibsted facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Schibsted case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Schibsted casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Schibsted case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Schibsted's Schibsted, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Schibsted case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Schibsted's Schibsted
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 Schibsted's Schibsted
Strengths Schibsted | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Schibsted's Schibsted in Schibsted Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Schibsted's Schibsted digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Schibsted's Schibsted in the sector have low bargaining power. Schibsted has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Schibsted's Schibsted to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Schibsted's Schibsted
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Schibsted's Schibsted does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Schibsted's Schibsted in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Schibsted's Schibsted is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Schibsted Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Schibsted's Schibsted has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Schibsted 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Schibsted's Schibsted has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Schibsted's Schibsted has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High brand equity
– Schibsted's Schibsted has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Schibsted's Schibsted to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Schibsted's Schibsted is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Schibsted 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Schibsted's Schibsted is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Schibsted are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Schibsted's Schibsted is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Schibsted | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Schibsted are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Schibsted HBR case study mentions - Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Schibsted, is just above the industry average. Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Schibsted, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Schibsted's Schibsted, firm in the HBR case study Schibsted needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Schibsted's Schibsted has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Schibsted should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Schibsted's Schibsted products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Schibsted's Schibsted needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Schibsted's Schibsted has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Schibsted, in the dynamic environment Schibsted's Schibsted has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Schibsted's Schibsted has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Schibsted's Schibsted 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. Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Schibsted 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 Schibsted's Schibsted 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Schibsted | 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 Schibsted are -
Loyalty marketing
– Schibsted's Schibsted has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
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. Schibsted's Schibsted can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Schibsted's Schibsted can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Schibsted's Schibsted operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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. Schibsted's Schibsted 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. Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Schibsted's Schibsted can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Schibsted's Schibsted 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
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Schibsted's Schibsted to increase its market reach. Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Schibsted's Schibsted to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Schibsted External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Schibsted are -
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 Schibsted's Schibsted.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Schibsted's Schibsted 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. Schibsted's Schibsted can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Schibsted's Schibsted in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
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. Schibsted's Schibsted 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Schibsted, Schibsted's Schibsted may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted's Schibsted
– 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 Schibsted's Schibsted.
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. Schibsted's Schibsted needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Schibsted's Schibsted 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 Schibsted .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Schibsted 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 Schibsted 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 Schibsted 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 Schibsted 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 Schibsted 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 Schibsted's Schibsted needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
