Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market
Executives at Black & Decker Corp. challenge managers to design and develop a cordless electric power drill for professionals that will enhance its reputation among that group of users and significantly lift the company's share of that market. Moreover, the new product must have a platform that, with modest changes, will suit both the North American and European markets. Like many such projects, the time line is short. The management challenge is to put together an international team and develop strategies for defining competitive opportunities, refining program objectives, ensuring effective communication, and keeping people focused. Designers--including engineers and product designers--must overcome a series of technical challenges related to the power the drill will deliver, battery location, and ergonomics. Models are a key design tool in the development process and are used to test consumer reactions in both North America and Europe.
Swot Analysis of "Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market" written by Thomas Walton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Drill Cordless facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams, Marketing, Product development, Project management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Drill Cordless, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Drill Cordless 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Drill Cordless
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 Drill Cordless
Strengths Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Drill Cordless in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Drill Cordless has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Drill Cordless 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 Drill Cordless digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Drill Cordless 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Drill Cordless 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.
Organizational Resilience of Drill Cordless
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Drill Cordless does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Drill Cordless to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Drill Cordless to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Drill Cordless 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 Thomas Walton 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Drill Cordless is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Drill Cordless in the sector have low bargaining power. Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Drill Cordless to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Drill Cordless has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Drill Cordless in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Drill Cordless 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.
Weaknesses Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market, in the dynamic environment Drill Cordless has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Drill Cordless has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Drill Cordless is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Drill Cordless 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas Walton suggests that, Drill Cordless 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market HBR case study mentions - Drill Cordless 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Drill Cordless, firm in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Drill Cordless 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Drill Cordless is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Drill Cordless needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Drill Cordless to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Drill Cordless has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Drill Cordless 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Drill Cordless products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Drill Cordless needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market | 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Drill Cordless to increase its market reach. Drill Cordless 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Drill Cordless 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Drill Cordless 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Drill Cordless 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Drill Cordless 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 Drill Cordless to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Drill Cordless 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, Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Drill Cordless can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Drill Cordless 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Drill Cordless 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Drill Cordless to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Drill Cordless 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.
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. Drill Cordless 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. Drill Cordless 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.
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 Drill Cordless 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Drill Cordless is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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.
Threats Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market are -
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 Drill Cordless in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Drill Cordless 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Drill Cordless 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Drill Cordless 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.
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 Drill Cordless business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Drill Cordless 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Drill Cordless has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Drill Cordless 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, Drill Cordless 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market .
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. Drill Cordless can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Drill Cordless
– 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 Drill Cordless.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market, Drill Cordless 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 .
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. Drill Cordless 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market 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 Drill Cordless needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Black & Decker Corp.: Compact Power--Innovation in the Cordless Professional Drill and Driver market
