Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. (Jos. A. Bank), a men's apparel retail chain, made a bid to acquire its industry rival, the Men's Wearhouse. The Men's Wearhouse not only rebuffed the bid but turned around and made a counter bid to acquire Jos. A. Bank. Initially, Jos. A. Bank merely rejected the offer as inadequate but subsequently made an offer to buy Eddie Bauer, a chain selling outdoor apparel, to make itself an unattractive target for the Men's Wearhouse. Surrounding this takeover drama were a host of other actors, including Beacon Light Capital, a hedge fund that called for significant governance changes at Jos. A. Bank, and a second hedge fund, Eminence Capital, that owned stock in both Jos. A. Bank and the Men's Wearhouse, and had filed a lawsuit against Jos. A. Bank to push for the deal to go through. The chairman of Jos. A. Bank's board was faced with a critical decision regarding the acquisition offer from the Men's Wearhouse and his own company's offer to buy Eddie Bauer.
Swot Analysis of "Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid" written by Ram Subramanian includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jos Wearhouse facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, 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, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jos Wearhouse, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jos Wearhouse
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 Jos Wearhouse
Strengths Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jos Wearhouse in Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jos Wearhouse in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Jos Wearhouse is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jos Wearhouse in the sector have low bargaining power. Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jos Wearhouse to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos Wearhouse in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Jos Wearhouse has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jos Wearhouse 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.
Analytics focus
– Jos Wearhouse 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 Ram Subramanian 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.
Organizational Resilience of Jos Wearhouse
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Jos Wearhouse does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jos Wearhouse 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jos Wearhouse to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jos Wearhouse to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jos Wearhouse is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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
– Jos Wearhouse has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jos Wearhouse to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jos Wearhouse 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, 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, Jos Wearhouse 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ram Subramanian suggests that, Jos Wearhouse 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Jos Wearhouse, firm in the HBR case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Jos Wearhouse is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos Wearhouse 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, in the dynamic environment Jos Wearhouse has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jos Wearhouse has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Jos Wearhouse supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jos Wearhouse vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, it seems that the employees of Jos Wearhouse 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Jos Wearhouse 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.
Opportunities Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid | 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Jos Wearhouse 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jos Wearhouse to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jos Wearhouse to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jos Wearhouse can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Jos Wearhouse 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, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos Wearhouse to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Jos Wearhouse in the consumer business. Now Jos Wearhouse can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jos Wearhouse has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jos Wearhouse to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid case study. Jos Wearhouse can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jos Wearhouse 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.
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. Jos Wearhouse can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Jos Wearhouse 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jos Wearhouse can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Jos Wearhouse 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.
Threats Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jos Wearhouse 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.
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.
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 Jos Wearhouse in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Jos Wearhouse with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jos Wearhouse 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid .
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 Jos Wearhouse business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Jos Wearhouse 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. Jos Wearhouse can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Jos Wearhouse
– 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 Jos Wearhouse.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid, Jos Wearhouse 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 .
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 Jos Wearhouse.
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. Jos Wearhouse can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jos Wearhouse 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jos Wearhouse is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.: The Men's Wearhouse Bid 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 Jos Wearhouse needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
