E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies
Most e-commerce firms fail sooner than later. But how do their strategies affect those failures? Most firms used price as their key competitive strategy, even pricing products below present costs (but above the lower cost expected in the future because of eventual economies of scale) to capture market share. This created large and growing losses in almost all firms studied. Most of the e-coms said they catered to all sectors--consumer, business, and public--but concentrated or identified with only one. Firms found it more complicated than expected to develop different strategies for each sector. The picture that emerges is of a technology-induced industry that began running on its technical success and now faces a stark reality. To succeed, e-coms need to couple technical know-how with business savvy, as Dell has done. Faced with this reality, many have employed different measures, including raising more cash to stay liquid, adding new target groups and products/services, and going global.
Swot Analysis of "E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies" written by Avraham Shama includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Coms Firms facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Coms Firms, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Coms Firms 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Coms Firms
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 Coms Firms
Strengths E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Coms Firms in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Coms Firms in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Coms Firms is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Coms Firms is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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
– Coms Firms 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Coms Firms is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Coms Firms has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Coms Firms to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Coms Firms 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Coms Firms 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Coms Firms is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Coms Firms has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Coms Firms 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.
Learning organization
- Coms Firms 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 Coms Firms is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies are -
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 Coms Firms supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Coms Firms vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Coms Firms, firm in the HBR case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 Coms Firms 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Coms Firms 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Coms Firms 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Coms Firms 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Coms Firms products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Coms Firms needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Avraham Shama suggests that, Coms Firms 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Coms Firms is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Coms Firms 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. Coms Firms 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.
Opportunities E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies | 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Coms Firms 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Coms Firms 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 Coms Firms to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Coms Firms 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Coms Firms 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.
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 Coms Firms 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Coms Firms 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, E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Coms Firms 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Coms Firms 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Coms Firms has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Coms Firms to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies case study. Coms Firms can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Coms Firms 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Coms Firms can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Coms Firms can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Coms Firms operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Coms Firms 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Coms Firms to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies are -
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.
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. Coms Firms needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Coms Firms 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.
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 Coms Firms in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Coms Firms can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Coms Firms business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Coms Firms 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.
Environmental challenges
– Coms Firms 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. Coms Firms can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Coms Firms
– 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 Coms Firms.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Coms Firms is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Coms Firms.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Coms Firms has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Coms Firms needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies, Coms Firms 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 E-Coms and Their Marketing Strategies 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 Coms Firms needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.