United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?
The United Daily News Group, a leader in Taiwan's media, faces the imminent death of the country's newspaper industry. The founder's grandson took over as the company's chair just four years earlier, during a time when an increasing number of readers were turning to the Internet for their news. Looking ahead, he needs to sustain the company's future development while recognizing that the business of running traditional newspapers may no longer be profitable. He needs to assess the company's strengths, integrate the group's resources, improve news content, introduce digital media and, in doing so, create a new business model. He wonders how to best initiate the integration of resources and which media innovations he should introduce.
Swot Analysis of "United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?" written by Rueylin Hsiao, Jean-Louis Schaan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that News Daily facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the News Daily, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which News Daily 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of News Daily
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 News Daily
Strengths United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of News Daily in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of News Daily in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– News Daily 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 Rueylin Hsiao, Jean-Louis Schaan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– News Daily 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– News Daily is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– News Daily has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. News Daily 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled News Daily to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped News Daily to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of News Daily
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that News Daily does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– News Daily 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 News Daily in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the News Daily 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that News Daily 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– News Daily is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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.
Learning organization
- News Daily 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 News Daily is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract News Daily 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– News Daily 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?, it seems that the employees of News Daily 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of News Daily is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. News Daily needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help News Daily to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? HBR case study mentions - News Daily 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, News Daily is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?, is just above the industry average. News Daily 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, News Daily 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, News Daily 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. News Daily 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, News Daily 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.
Opportunities United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? | 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help News Daily to increase its market reach. News Daily 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 News Daily 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.
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 News Daily in the consumer business. Now News Daily can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. News Daily can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at News Daily 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, News Daily 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.
Manufacturing automation
– News Daily 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, News Daily can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that News Daily operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Loyalty marketing
– News Daily 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for News Daily 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.
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. News Daily can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects News Daily can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– News Daily 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.
Threats United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? are -
Regulatory challenges
– News Daily 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, News Daily 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? .
Increasing wage structure of News Daily
– 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 News Daily.
Environmental challenges
– News Daily 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. News Daily 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 News Daily with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– News Daily has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, News Daily 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened?, News Daily 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 .
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 News Daily.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that News Daily is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 News Daily in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. News Daily needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 News Daily business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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 United Daily News Group (C): UDN Shopping - What Happened? 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 News Daily needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
