EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner
Accompanied by product #PON213.Two-party negotiation between lawyers for an auto mechanic and a customer over a disputed auto repair bill. Susan Garfield has a billing dispute with John Eazer, owner of a local garage, over some work done on Garfield's car. Finding the bill significantly higher than the original informal estimate, Garfield angrily confronted Eazer. Eazer prepared a second bill at an even higher figure. Frustrated, Garfield returned to the garage after closing time with a spare key and drove her car home, without paying anything. Eazer turned to his child-in-law, an attorney, wishing to file a criminal complaint. When phoned, Garfield referred the attorney to her father, a senior partner in a local law firm. Garfield's father is letting one of his young associates handle the case. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner" written by Bruce Patton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eazer Garfield facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Negotiations, Regulation and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eazer Garfield, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eazer Garfield 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eazer Garfield
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 Eazer Garfield
Strengths EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eazer Garfield in EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Eazer Garfield is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Eazer Garfield 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 Eazer Garfield in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Eazer Garfield 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 Bruce Patton 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eazer Garfield digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eazer Garfield 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Eazer Garfield in the sector have low bargaining power. EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Eazer Garfield to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Eazer Garfield in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eazer Garfield has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eazer Garfield 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Eazer Garfield is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eazer Garfield 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.
High brand equity
– Eazer Garfield has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Eazer Garfield to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Eazer Garfield has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Eazer Garfield is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 Eazer Garfield 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner, in the dynamic environment Eazer Garfield has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Eazer Garfield has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Eazer Garfield products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Eazer Garfield needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eazer Garfield is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner, is just above the industry average. Eazer Garfield 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner, 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 Eazer Garfield supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Eazer Garfield vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Eazer Garfield 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 Eazer Garfield has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Eazer Garfield 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.
Opportunities EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner | 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eazer Garfield is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Eazer Garfield 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, EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eazer Garfield 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Eazer Garfield 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Eazer Garfield 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 Eazer Garfield to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Eazer Garfield 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Eazer Garfield to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Eazer Garfield can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Eazer Garfield operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Eazer Garfield can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Eazer Garfield can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Buying journey improvements
– Eazer Garfield can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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.
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. Eazer Garfield can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Eazer Garfield in the consumer business. Now Eazer Garfield can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eazer Garfield 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Eazer Garfield 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.
Threats EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner are -
Environmental challenges
– Eazer Garfield 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. Eazer Garfield can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eazer Garfield is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Eazer Garfield high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology 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.
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 Eazer Garfield business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Eazer Garfield 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.
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. Eazer Garfield 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 Eazer Garfield with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eazer Garfield 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.
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. Eazer Garfield 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Eazer Garfield 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Eazer Garfield 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 EAZY'S GARAGE - Confidential Instructions for the Counsel of John Eazer, Garage Owner 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 Eazer Garfield needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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