United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - What Happened? casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - What Happened? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– News Daily 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 United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? - 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 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.
High brand equity
– News Daily has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled News Daily to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal 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 (B): UDN.com - 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– News Daily is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
Training and development
– News Daily has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? 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.
Weaknesses United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
News Daily 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though News Daily 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 - United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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.
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.
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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of News Daily, firm in the HBR case study United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of News Daily products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, News Daily needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - What Happened? are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, News Daily 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, United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for News Daily 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 News Daily to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– News Daily 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of News Daily has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help News Daily to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? case study. News Daily can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– News Daily can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? 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.
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.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– News Daily 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 United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - What Happened? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help News Daily to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Threats United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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.
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on News Daily 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.
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 (B): UDN.com - What Happened? .
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.
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. News Daily 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– News Daily 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. News Daily can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of United Daily News Group (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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 (B): UDN.com - 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.
