THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development
Accompanied by product #PON485.Two-party negotiation between agents for a basketball player and a shoe manufacturer over a possible sneaker endorsement deal. Theotis Wiley is a promising young basketball player with a checkered past. Erive is a small shoe manufacturing company about to launch a new line of basketball shoes. Erive's Vice-President of Business Development has asked to meet with Theotis' agent regarding the possibility of an endorsement deal. Neither party knows much about the other party's interests or alternatives. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development" written by Jake Erhard, Robert C. Bordone includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Theotis Basketball facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development casestudy better are - – technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Theotis Basketball, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Theotis Basketball 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Theotis Basketball
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 Theotis Basketball
Strengths THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Theotis Basketball in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Theotis Basketball has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Theotis Basketball to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Theotis Basketball is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Theotis Basketball 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Theotis Basketball is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Theotis Basketball 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Theotis Basketball is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Theotis Basketball in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Theotis Basketball to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Theotis Basketball to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Theotis Basketball has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Theotis Basketball 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 Theotis Basketball in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Theotis Basketball
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Theotis Basketball does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Theotis Basketball digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Theotis Basketball 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.
Weaknesses THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Theotis Basketball is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Theotis Basketball needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Theotis Basketball to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Theotis Basketball, firm in the HBR case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development, in the dynamic environment Theotis Basketball has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Theotis Basketball has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Theotis Basketball has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Theotis Basketball 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development, is just above the industry average. Theotis Basketball 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Theotis Basketball is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Theotis Basketball 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 - THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Theotis Basketball 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. Theotis Basketball 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Theotis Basketball 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.
Opportunities THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development | 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Theotis Basketball can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Theotis Basketball 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. Theotis Basketball 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Theotis Basketball to increase its market reach. Theotis Basketball 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Theotis Basketball can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Theotis Basketball operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Theotis Basketball can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Theotis Basketball 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Theotis Basketball 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Theotis Basketball 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Theotis Basketball is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Theotis Basketball 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Theotis Basketball 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Theotis Basketball to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Theotis Basketball 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Theotis Basketball 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.
Threats THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Theotis Basketball 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Theotis Basketball 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.
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. Theotis Basketball 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Theotis Basketball 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.
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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Theotis Basketball 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.
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. Theotis Basketball needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Theotis Basketball 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. Theotis Basketball can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Theotis Basketball with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Theotis Basketball business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Theotis Basketball 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 Theotis Basketball.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 THEOTIS WILEY - Confidential Instructions for Erive's Vice-President of Business Development 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 Theotis Basketball needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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