Swot Analysis of "Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E)" written by David F. Hawkins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bsf Venezuelan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Currency, Financial management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bsf Venezuelan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bsf Venezuelan 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bsf Venezuelan
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bsf Venezuelan
Strengths Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bsf Venezuelan in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Bsf Venezuelan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bsf Venezuelan is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 Bsf Venezuelan in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bsf Venezuelan to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bsf Venezuelan to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bsf Venezuelan is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 brand equity
– Bsf Venezuelan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bsf Venezuelan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Bsf Venezuelan has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 David F. Hawkins 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.
Learning organization
- Bsf Venezuelan 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 Bsf Venezuelan is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Weaknesses Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bsf Venezuelan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Bsf Venezuelan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bsf Venezuelan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bsf Venezuelan 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. Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bsf Venezuelan is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bsf Venezuelan products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bsf Venezuelan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E), is just above the industry average. Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E), it seems that the employees of Bsf Venezuelan don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Bsf Venezuelan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bsf Venezuelan 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 - Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) | 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bsf Venezuelan is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bsf Venezuelan can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bsf Venezuelan in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bsf Venezuelan can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bsf Venezuelan operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bsf Venezuelan to increase its market reach. Bsf Venezuelan 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.
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 Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bsf Venezuelan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Bsf Venezuelan in the consumer business. Now Bsf Venezuelan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bsf Venezuelan 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. Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Threats Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) are -
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 Bsf Venezuelan.
Regulatory challenges
– Bsf Venezuelan 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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 Bsf Venezuelan in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E), Bsf Venezuelan may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Increasing wage structure of Bsf Venezuelan
– 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 Bsf Venezuelan.
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. Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Environmental challenges
– Bsf Venezuelan 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. Bsf Venezuelan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bsf Venezuelan with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Bsf Venezuelan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bsf Venezuelan 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bsf Venezuelan 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bsf Venezuelan 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bsf Venezuelan can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Cosmeticos de Espana, S.A. (E) 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 Bsf Venezuelan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.