Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version
Examines the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of an infant who died after a portable crib collapsed. The manufacturer, Kolcraft, licensed the Playskool brand name from the co-defendant, Hasbro Industries. Raises difficult questions about what the two companies should do now, after a series of tragic deaths--and after apparently complying with regulatory requirements governing product recall. Also raises provocative questions about the appropriateness of settlements in wrongful-death suits, corporate responsibility to ensure product safety, and pressures of national media attention on corporate actions. Though the circumstances here are particularly heart-breaking, managers often have to deal with lawsuits that are value-laden and have high emotional content, such as employment discrimination or sexual harassment claims, for example, or environmental and regulatory disputes. The kinds of decisions and tensions that a manager faces in such instances surely have much in common with the issues raised.
Swot Analysis of "Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version" written by Michael A. Wheeler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kolcraft Wrongful facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Negotiations, Product development, Regulation, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kolcraft Wrongful, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kolcraft Wrongful
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 Kolcraft Wrongful
Strengths Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kolcraft Wrongful in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Training and development
– Kolcraft Wrongful has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kolcraft Wrongful digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Kolcraft Wrongful has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Kolcraft Wrongful 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
– Kolcraft Wrongful has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kolcraft Wrongful to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Kolcraft Wrongful
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Kolcraft Wrongful does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Kolcraft Wrongful is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kolcraft Wrongful in the sector have low bargaining power. Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kolcraft Wrongful to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kolcraft Wrongful to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kolcraft Wrongful to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kolcraft Wrongful 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 - Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kolcraft Wrongful products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kolcraft Wrongful needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version HBR case study mentions - Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
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 Kolcraft Wrongful supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kolcraft Wrongful vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kolcraft Wrongful 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, Kolcraft Wrongful is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kolcraft Wrongful 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. Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version, is just above the industry average. Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Kolcraft Wrongful has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kolcraft Wrongful is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Kolcraft Wrongful needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kolcraft Wrongful to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Opportunities Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version | 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version are -
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. Kolcraft Wrongful can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Kolcraft Wrongful can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kolcraft Wrongful is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
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. Kolcraft Wrongful 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. Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kolcraft Wrongful has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kolcraft Wrongful to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version case study. Kolcraft Wrongful can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Kolcraft Wrongful to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kolcraft Wrongful to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Threats Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
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 Kolcraft Wrongful business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Kolcraft Wrongful needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version .
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. Kolcraft Wrongful can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kolcraft Wrongful 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 Kolcraft Wrongful in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Kolcraft Wrongful needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Kolcraft Wrongful.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kolcraft Wrongful has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kolcraft Wrongful 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Ginzel et al vs. Kolcraft Enterprises et al (A), Portuguese Version 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 Kolcraft Wrongful needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.