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 - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- Tml Trademark 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 Tml Trademark is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tml Trademark in the sector have low bargaining power. TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tml Trademark to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Tml Trademark has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tml Trademark to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tml Trademark digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tml Trademark 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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tml Trademark 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 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 -
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet 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 Tml Trademark has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tml Trademark 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tml Trademark has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, it seems that the employees of Tml Trademark 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.
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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Tml Trademark 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tml Trademark can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Tml Trademark to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tml Trademark can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tml Trademark operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Tml Trademark 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. Tml Trademark 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Regulatory challenges
– Tml Trademark 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study TrademarkLogo.com: Transforming Legal Services on the Internet, Tml Trademark 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 .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tml Trademark with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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 Tml Trademark in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Tml Trademark needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.