Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global
In Spring 2000, dotcom euphoria grips the U.S. economy, and venture capital is easy to obtain. Two young founders of a brick-and-mortar company recently turned dotcom received communications from all over the world soliciting their participation in licensing agreements, partnerships, and other similar relationships. The two entrepreneurs discuss what it took to launch their web site in late 1999, including development of a large relational database that offers 3,000 products. The partners examine whether to move from their position as a small domestic player to a global one. Issues include licensing and web site localization for non-U.S. access. The toner supplies industry is a highly fragmented segment within the office supplies industry. Customers are sensitive to price and convenience, and high-quality service with quick product delivery is the key to success.
Swot Analysis of "Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global" written by Jean-Pierre Jeannet, Martha Lanning includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dotcom Supplies facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Intellectual property, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dotcom Supplies, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dotcom Supplies
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 Dotcom Supplies
Strengths Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dotcom Supplies in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Dotcom Supplies has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Dotcom Supplies 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Dotcom Supplies is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dotcom Supplies to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dotcom Supplies to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dotcom Supplies 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.
Learning organization
- Dotcom Supplies 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 Dotcom Supplies is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dotcom Supplies is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dotcom Supplies in the sector have low bargaining power. Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dotcom Supplies to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dotcom Supplies in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dotcom Supplies, firm in the HBR case study Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global, in the dynamic environment Dotcom Supplies has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dotcom Supplies has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dotcom Supplies products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dotcom Supplies needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dotcom Supplies 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. Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global, is just above the industry average. Dotcom Supplies 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dotcom Supplies 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global HBR case study mentions - Dotcom Supplies 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Dotcom Supplies has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dotcom Supplies is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Dotcom Supplies needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dotcom Supplies to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global | 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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. Dotcom Supplies can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dotcom Supplies 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 Dotcom Supplies can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Dotcom Supplies 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.
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. Dotcom Supplies 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. Dotcom Supplies 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Dotcom Supplies can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dotcom Supplies can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dotcom Supplies to increase its market reach. Dotcom Supplies 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dotcom Supplies 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 Dotcom Supplies to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global are -
Increasing wage structure of Dotcom Supplies
– 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 Dotcom Supplies.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global, Dotcom Supplies 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 .
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 Dotcom Supplies business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dotcom Supplies is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Dotcom Supplies.
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. Dotcom Supplies 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.
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 Dotcom Supplies in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dotcom Supplies 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dotcom Supplies 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.
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
– Dotcom Supplies 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.
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. Dotcom Supplies needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Tonernow.com: A Dotcom Goes Global 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 Dotcom Supplies needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.