Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent
CompuServe, an online services vendor, informs its software developers that they must enter into a licensing agreement to use the popular GIF compression. CompuServe claims that it is forced to do so because Unisys is enforcing its patent rights in this area. Others argue that CompuServe's move is a response to the growing competitive challenge posed by the Internet.
Swot Analysis of "Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent" written by Josh Lerner, Benjamin Conway includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Compuserve Gif facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Intellectual property, IT and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Compuserve Gif, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Compuserve Gif 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Compuserve Gif
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Compuserve Gif
Strengths Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Compuserve Gif in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Compuserve Gif is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Compuserve Gif 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.
Training and development
– Compuserve Gif has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Compuserve Gif 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 Compuserve Gif in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Compuserve Gif in the sector have low bargaining power. Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Compuserve Gif to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Compuserve Gif to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Compuserve Gif to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Compuserve Gif 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 Josh Lerner, Benjamin Conway 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Compuserve Gif has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Compuserve Gif 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)
– Compuserve Gif 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Compuserve Gif
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Compuserve Gif does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Compuserve Gif 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.
Weaknesses Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Compuserve Gif products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Compuserve Gif needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Compuserve Gif, firm in the HBR case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Compuserve Gif is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Compuserve Gif needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Compuserve Gif to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Josh Lerner, Benjamin Conway suggests that, Compuserve Gif 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Compuserve Gif 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. Compuserve Gif 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent, in the dynamic environment Compuserve Gif has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Compuserve Gif has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Compuserve Gif is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent HBR case study mentions - Compuserve Gif 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent, it seems that the employees of Compuserve Gif 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.
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 Compuserve Gif supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Compuserve Gif vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Compuserve Gif has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent | 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Compuserve Gif in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Compuserve Gif 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 Compuserve Gif to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Compuserve Gif can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Compuserve Gif 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.
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. Compuserve Gif can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Compuserve Gif can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Compuserve Gif 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Compuserve Gif can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Compuserve Gif 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.
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 Compuserve Gif in the consumer business. Now Compuserve Gif can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Compuserve Gif 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, Compuserve Gif 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, Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Compuserve Gif to increase its market reach. Compuserve Gif 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.
Threats Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Compuserve Gif in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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
– Compuserve Gif 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Compuserve Gif 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent .
Environmental challenges
– Compuserve Gif 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. Compuserve Gif can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Compuserve Gif has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Compuserve Gif needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Compuserve Gif business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent, Compuserve Gif may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Regulatory challenges
– Compuserve Gif 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 Finance & Accounting 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Compuserve Gif is facing in Finance & Accounting 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 Compuserve Gif.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Compuserve Gif 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 Compuserve Gif with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent 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 Compuserve Gif needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
