TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet
In 2000, Robert Wang, senior partner of the Hong Kong law firm Robert W.H. Wang & Co., spearheaded the establishment of TrademarkLogo.com (TML). He believed that legal services, like other businesses, could exploit the opportunities afforded by the Internet. The trademark practice of the Intellectual Property (IP) Department was a good candidate for an Internet venture--the process was straightforward and it required few discussions and meetings between lawyers and clients. Also, doing business via the Internet would greatly reduce the amount of paperwork, thereby solving the IP department's cost overrun problem. However, the bursting of the Internet bubble, coupled with worldwide economic woes, sent the business into a downturn in 2002. The dot-com's appeal seemed to have disappeared along with the Internet hype; traffic on the Web site slowed down, and the number of transactions tumbled. Then in 2003, the government rolled out the new Trademark Ordinance and Rules, which streamlined and simplified the trademark and service mark registration process. As part of the government's electronic service delivery (ESD) initiatives, procedural and pricing information became readily available on the Web and anyone could lodge a trademark registration application themselves--undermining the role of an IP service provider. As the new manager hired to turn things around, Poorna Mysoor was tasked with reviving the business and identifying opportunities for future growth. As she was preparing her proposal to Robert Wang, she wondered about TML's competitive advantage. How could TML make use of the Internet to establish distinctive strategic positioning? How should TML react to the government's ESD initiative? How could TML create a strong enough value proposition for its customers and suppliers?
Swot Analysis of "TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet" written by Ali Farhoomand, Monica Wong includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tml Trademark facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Intellectual property, Internet, Marketing, Regulation and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tml Trademark, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tml Trademark
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 Tml Trademark
Strengths TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tml Trademark in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Tml Trademark is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tml Trademark 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tml Trademark is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tml Trademark 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Tml Trademark has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tml Trademark 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet - 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
– Tml Trademark 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 Tml Trademark in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tml Trademark is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Tml Trademark 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 Ali Farhoomand, Monica Wong 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tml Trademark in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tml Trademark 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tml Trademark is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Tml Trademark supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tml Trademark vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali Farhoomand, Monica Wong suggests that, Tml Trademark is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, is just above the industry average. Tml Trademark 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Tml Trademark 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Tml Trademark products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Tml Trademark needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, in the dynamic environment Tml Trademark has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tml Trademark has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tml Trademark 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. Tml Trademark 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 Tml Trademark 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet | 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tml Trademark 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tml Trademark 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tml Trademark 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, TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tml Trademark in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tml Trademark to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Tml Trademark 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tml Trademark 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.
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 Tml Trademark in the consumer business. Now Tml Trademark can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tml Trademark has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tml Trademark to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet case study. Tml Trademark can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Tml Trademark 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Tml Trademark can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tml Trademark is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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.
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. Tml Trademark can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet are -
Environmental challenges
– Tml Trademark 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. Tml Trademark can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
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 Tml Trademark.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tml Trademark in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Tml Trademark 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tml Trademark 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.
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 Tml Trademark business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Tml Trademark 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Tml Trademark 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.
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. Tml Trademark 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
– Tml Trademark has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tml Trademark 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tml Trademark 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 Tml Trademark needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
