Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia
This case is excellent for teaching both MBAs and executives how to create a blue ocean strategy that is hard to imitate and sustainable. It focuses on Wikipedia versus Britannica.com in the online encyclopedia industry. The case teaches participants the importance of aligning the three strategy propositions of value, profit, and people around both differentiation and low cost to break the value-cost trade-off and create a blue ocean that is hard to imitate.
Authors :: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Katrina Ling
Swot Analysis of "Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia" written by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Katrina Ling includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ocean Blue facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ocean Blue, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ocean Blue 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ocean Blue
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 Ocean Blue
Strengths Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ocean Blue in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Ocean Blue 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 Ocean Blue is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ocean Blue has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ocean Blue 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.
Analytics focus
– Ocean Blue 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 W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Katrina Ling 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ocean Blue 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia - 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 Ocean Blue digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ocean Blue 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
– Ocean Blue has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ocean Blue 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ocean Blue
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ocean Blue does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ocean Blue in the sector have low bargaining power. Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ocean Blue to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ocean Blue in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Ocean Blue is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Ocean Blue in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia, in the dynamic environment Ocean Blue has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ocean Blue has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ocean Blue 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ocean Blue 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 - Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ocean Blue is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ocean Blue is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Ocean Blue needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ocean Blue to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ocean Blue 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ocean Blue is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ocean Blue, firm in the HBR case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia, is just above the industry average. Ocean Blue 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia, it seems that the employees of Ocean Blue 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ocean Blue 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.
Opportunities Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia | 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ocean Blue to increase its market reach. Ocean Blue 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
– Ocean Blue 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ocean Blue to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ocean Blue can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ocean Blue 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.
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 Ocean Blue 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ocean Blue 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ocean Blue is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ocean Blue can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ocean Blue operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Ocean Blue 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. Ocean Blue 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ocean Blue 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ocean Blue 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ocean Blue has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ocean Blue to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia case study. Ocean Blue can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Ocean Blue can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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.
Threats Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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. Ocean Blue 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.
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. Ocean Blue can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Ocean Blue.
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 Ocean Blue business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ocean Blue has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ocean Blue 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ocean Blue 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ocean Blue 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.
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 Ocean Blue in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Ocean Blue needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ocean Blue 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
– Ocean Blue 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 Ocean Blue 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Making a Blue Ocean Strategic Move That Discourages Imitation: The Case of Wikipedia 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 Ocean Blue needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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