Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com
Examines Orientation.com's approach of developing global content capability and its market advantages and disadvantages as a result of localizing its resource bases. In a post-bubble technology market in early 2000, Orientation.com faced fierce competition for capital; any funding for dot.com-based businesses was likely to occur through corporate takeovers by traditional companies. Orientation.com could survive only if it provided a strategic fit to a large corporation or added financial value based on its global content proposition. A likely suitor was Telenor Mobile, a large European telecommunications provider that was interested in exclusively accessing Orientation.com's worldwide content and delivering it to its own customer base. Telenor Mobile had to decide whether Orientation.com's valuation and capabilities made it suitable for acquisition.
Swot Analysis of "Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com" written by Ali Farhoomand, Shamza Khan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Orientation.com Orientation.com's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Globalization, Internet, IT, Mergers & acquisitions and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Orientation.com Orientation.com's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Orientation.com Orientation.com's
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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's
Strengths Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Orientation.com Orientation.com's in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Orientation.com Orientation.com's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Orientation.com Orientation.com's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Orientation.com Orientation.com's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Learning organization
- Orientation.com Orientation.com's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Orientation.com Orientation.com's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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
– Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Orientation.com Orientation.com's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Orientation.com Orientation.com's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Orientation.com Orientation.com's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com, is just above the industry average. Orientation.com Orientation.com's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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. Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Orientation.com Orientation.com's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Orientation.com Orientation.com's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Orientation.com Orientation.com's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Orientation.com Orientation.com's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Orientation.com Orientation.com's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com, it seems that the employees of Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com, 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ali Farhoomand, Shamza Khan suggests that, Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Orientation.com Orientation.com's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com | 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Orientation.com Orientation.com's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Orientation.com Orientation.com's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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.
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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's in the consumer business. Now Orientation.com Orientation.com's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Orientation.com Orientation.com's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Threats Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com are -
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. Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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. Orientation.com Orientation.com's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com .
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. Orientation.com Orientation.com's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Orientation.com Orientation.com's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Orientation.com Orientation.com's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com, Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Orientation.com Orientation.com's 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's
– 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's.
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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's.
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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Online Business Valuation: No Bang, No Buck for Orientation.com 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 Orientation.com Orientation.com's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
