Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform
In August 2012, the chief executive officer of Cconma.con, an online shopping mall based in Chung-Ju, South Korea, is considering his company's future. The company has grown substantially since it was founded in 2005 and is now preparing to further expand into Hong Kong, China or to a second location in the United States. The company's vision, rooted in an ethic of corporate social responsibility, is to build a happy and healthy community, including employees, customers and sellers. By focusing on its customers' basic necessities, products for a healthy life and the needs of its producers to minimize sales costs, the company has found its niche where no other online retailer has dared to venture. Its success demonstrates that it is possible to be good and profitable at the same time. Expanding to a new location will bring myriad challenges, some of which can be anticipated while others will need to be resolved on the fly. The management team needs to focus on defining the specifics of their go-to-market plan. When should they enter? With which local players should they collaborate? Will an increased marketing effort or local outreach be necessary? Authors are affiliated with National Chiao Tung University.
Swot Analysis of "Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform" written by Jin-Su Kang, Stephen Downing includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Korea Healthy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Korea Healthy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Korea Healthy
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 Korea Healthy
Strengths Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Korea Healthy in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Korea Healthy 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Korea Healthy 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Korea Healthy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Korea Healthy 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 Jin-Su Kang, Stephen Downing 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.
High brand equity
– Korea Healthy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Korea Healthy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Korea Healthy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Korea Healthy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Korea Healthy 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
– Korea Healthy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy in the sector have low bargaining power. Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Korea Healthy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Korea Healthy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
Need for greater diversity
– Korea Healthy 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, it seems that the employees of Korea Healthy 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Korea Healthy has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, in the dynamic environment Korea Healthy has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Korea Healthy has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Korea Healthy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Korea Healthy 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Korea Healthy 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 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 Korea Healthy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Korea Healthy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Korea Healthy 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 - Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform HBR case study mentions - Korea Healthy 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.
Opportunities Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Korea Healthy 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Korea Healthy 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Korea Healthy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Korea Healthy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Korea Healthy in the consumer business. Now Korea Healthy can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Korea Healthy 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. Korea Healthy 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Korea Healthy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Korea Healthy 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Korea Healthy 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Korea Healthy to increase its market reach. Korea Healthy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Korea Healthy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Korea Healthy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study. Korea Healthy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Korea Healthy 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.
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 Korea Healthy 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Korea Healthy 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 Korea Healthy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
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. Korea Healthy 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.
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. Korea Healthy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Korea Healthy in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Korea Healthy business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Korea Healthy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Korea Healthy 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, Korea Healthy 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 .
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 Korea Healthy.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Korea Healthy 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.
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
– Korea Healthy 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. Korea Healthy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Korea Healthy 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.