Case Study Description of Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace
Flatpebble is an innovative start-up e-business that acts as an online marketplace where customers can connect with professional wedding photographers. Flatpebble has reached a stage wherein it already has a good revenue stream and a recognized brand name across India. It is poised for rapid expansion, and the management team must evaluate the various strategic alternatives available. The Flatpebble team must design a comprehensive, consistent and coherent business strategy that will allow the company to scale up quickly, beat its competitors and stay relevant in the dynamic and rapidly evolving e-business industry. Atul Arun Pathak is affiliated with XLRI Xavier School of Management.
Swot Analysis of "Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace" written by Atul Arun Pathak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Flatpebble Flatpebble.com facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Flatpebble Flatpebble.com, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com
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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com
Strengths Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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.
Training and development
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Flatpebble Flatpebble.com digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Learning organization
- Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com in the sector have low bargaining power. Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Flatpebble Flatpebble.com to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Flatpebble Flatpebble.com does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace, it seems that the employees of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Flatpebble Flatpebble.com, firm in the HBR case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace, in the dynamic environment Flatpebble Flatpebble.com has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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
Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace HBR case study mentions - Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Flatpebble Flatpebble.com is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 - Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace | 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace are -
Buying journey improvements
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com in the consumer business. Now Flatpebble Flatpebble.com can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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, Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Flatpebble Flatpebble.com to increase its market reach. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
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. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Flatpebble Flatpebble.com to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace are -
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. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com
– 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
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. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Flatpebble Flatpebble.com is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace .
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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com.
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. Flatpebble Flatpebble.com 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble.com: Online Services Marketplace 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 Flatpebble Flatpebble.com needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
