Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)

This case is accompanied by a Video Short that can be shown in class or included in a digital coursepack. Instructors should consider the timing of making the video available to students, as it may reveal key case details.When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he made community involvement an integral part of the company's strategy. Under Swartz's leadership, Timberland formed a close partnership with City Year, the national corps of young adults engaged in community service events, established a community enterprise division to schedule community service events, and gave each employee 32 hours of annual paid leave to participate in service work. As a result of these initiatives, Swartz believed the idea of community service at Timberland had gone beyond traditional notions of philanthropy or cause-related marketing to become a central feature of the company and brand's identity. However, in 1995, the spectacular sales growth Timberland enjoyed during the first years of Jeffrey Swartz's tenure as COO leveled off. The company reported its first loss and initiated significant restructuring. The tough times prompted some observers to question Timberland's continued commitment to community service. An abridged version of a case.

Authors :: James E. Austin, James Quinn

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Public relations, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)" written by James E. Austin, James Quinn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Timberland Community facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations, Social enterprise and Strategy & Execution.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Timberland Community, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Timberland Community 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Timberland Community
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 Timberland Community

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Strengths Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Timberland Community in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– Timberland Community has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Timberland Community 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

– Timberland Community has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Timberland Community to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Timberland Community in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Timberland Community is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Timberland Community 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Timberland Community is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Timberland Community 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 Timberland Community in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Timberland Community 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Training and development

– Timberland Community has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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.

Analytics focus

– Timberland Community 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 James E. Austin, James Quinn 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Timberland Community to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Timberland Community to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Timberland Community 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 Timberland Community is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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Weaknesses Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) are -

Products dominated business model

– Even though Timberland Community 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 - Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Timberland Community is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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.

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 Timberland Community supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Timberland Community vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) HBR case study mentions - Timberland Community 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Timberland Community 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Timberland Community 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version), in the dynamic environment Timberland Community has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Timberland Community has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Need for greater diversity

– Timberland Community 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Timberland Community 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Timberland Community 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. Timberland Community even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland Community has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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Opportunities Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Timberland Community 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Timberland Community can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Timberland Community 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Timberland Community 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 Timberland Community to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Timberland Community to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Timberland Community can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

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 Timberland Community 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.

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. Timberland Community can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Timberland Community 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Timberland Community 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Timberland Community 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, Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Timberland Community 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.

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 Timberland Community in the consumer business. Now Timberland Community can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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Threats Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Timberland Community has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Timberland Community 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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Timberland Community 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version) .

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Timberland Community 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 Timberland Community.

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.

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 Timberland Community business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Timberland Community 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. Timberland Community can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version), Timberland Community 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 .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Timberland Community 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Timberland Community with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Regulatory challenges

– Timberland Community 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

– Timberland Community 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged 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 Timberland Community needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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