Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture
When Blindstogo.com, the online project of Blinds To Go (BTG), was first proposed in mid-1999 its board of directors was lukewarm to the idea. However, after six months of operation and seeing other retailers go online and the tremendous valuation being given to dot-coms, the board was encouraging BTG to devote more resources to the project. Plans were already in place to further expand their retail store network. Senior management at BTG had received sales, spending and survey results from their retail e-commerce venture. Data obtained from the web site indicated that the people who visited the site were the same people who visited the stores. The vice-chairman of BTG wanted to evaluate the results of this online venture by examining the fit of the e-commerce project within the overall business strategy, to determine where resources should be focused.
Swot Analysis of "Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture" written by Michael R. Pearce, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Btg Blindstogo.com facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Btg Blindstogo.com, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Btg Blindstogo.com
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 Btg Blindstogo.com
Strengths Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Btg Blindstogo.com in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Btg Blindstogo.com in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Btg Blindstogo.com has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Btg Blindstogo.com to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Btg Blindstogo.com in the sector have low bargaining power. Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Btg Blindstogo.com to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Btg Blindstogo.com has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Btg Blindstogo.com is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Btg Blindstogo.com 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
– Btg Blindstogo.com is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Btg Blindstogo.com
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Btg Blindstogo.com does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Btg Blindstogo.com digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Btg Blindstogo.com is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Btg Blindstogo.com is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Btg Blindstogo.com needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Btg Blindstogo.com to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Btg Blindstogo.com, firm in the HBR case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael R. Pearce, Ken Mark suggests that, Btg Blindstogo.com 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, Btg Blindstogo.com 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. Btg Blindstogo.com even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Need for greater diversity
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Btg Blindstogo.com is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Btg Blindstogo.com 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Btg Blindstogo.com has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture, 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 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 Btg Blindstogo.com supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Btg Blindstogo.com vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture, in the dynamic environment Btg Blindstogo.com has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Btg Blindstogo.com has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture | 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Btg Blindstogo.com to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Btg Blindstogo.com can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Btg Blindstogo.com has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Btg Blindstogo.com to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture case study. Btg Blindstogo.com can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
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 Btg Blindstogo.com in the consumer business. Now Btg Blindstogo.com can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Btg Blindstogo.com is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Btg Blindstogo.com can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Btg Blindstogo.com to increase its market reach. Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Btg Blindstogo.com to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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 wage structure of Btg Blindstogo.com
– 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 Btg Blindstogo.com.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Btg Blindstogo.com is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Btg Blindstogo.com business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Btg Blindstogo.com has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Environmental challenges
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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. Btg Blindstogo.com can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Btg Blindstogo.com 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture, Btg Blindstogo.com 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail E-Commerce Venture 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 Btg Blindstogo.com needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.