Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform
In August 2012, the chief executive officer of Cconma.con, an online shopping mall based in Chung-Ju, South Korea, is considering his company's future. The company has grown substantially since it was founded in 2005 and is now preparing to further expand into Hong Kong, China or to a second location in the United States. The company's vision, rooted in an ethic of corporate social responsibility, is to build a happy and healthy community, including employees, customers and sellers. By focusing on its customers' basic necessities, products for a healthy life and the needs of its producers to minimize sales costs, the company has found its niche where no other online retailer has dared to venture. Its success demonstrates that it is possible to be good and profitable at the same time. Expanding to a new location will bring myriad challenges, some of which can be anticipated while others will need to be resolved on the fly. The management team needs to focus on defining the specifics of their go-to-market plan. When should they enter? With which local players should they collaborate? Will an increased marketing effort or local outreach be necessary? Authors are affiliated with National Chiao Tung University.
Swot Analysis of "Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform" written by Jin-Su Kang, Stephen Downing includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Korea Healthy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform casestudy better are - – technology disruption, 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, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Korea Healthy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Korea Healthy
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 Korea Healthy
Strengths Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Korea Healthy in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Korea Healthy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Korea Healthy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Korea Healthy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Korea Healthy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Korea Healthy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Korea Healthy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Korea Healthy 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Korea Healthy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Korea Healthy does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Korea Healthy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Korea Healthy 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
– Korea Healthy 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 Jin-Su Kang, Stephen Downing 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Korea Healthy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Korea Healthy 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Korea Healthy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Korea Healthy 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Korea Healthy 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 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 Korea Healthy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Korea Healthy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Korea Healthy 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. Korea Healthy 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, is just above the industry average. Korea Healthy 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Korea Healthy is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jin-Su Kang, Stephen Downing suggests that, Korea Healthy 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.
Opportunities Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform | 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Korea Healthy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Korea Healthy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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
– Korea Healthy 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Korea Healthy to increase its market reach. Korea Healthy 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.
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. Korea Healthy can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Korea Healthy 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. Korea Healthy 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Korea Healthy 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, Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Korea Healthy 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Korea Healthy 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Korea Healthy to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Korea Healthy 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 Korea Healthy in the consumer business. Now Korea Healthy can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Korea Healthy 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.
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. Korea Healthy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Korea Healthy.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform, Korea Healthy 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 .
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. Korea Healthy 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Korea Healthy 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Korea Healthy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Korea Healthy 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Korea Healthy
– 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 Korea Healthy.
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 Korea Healthy business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Korea Healthy 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Korea Healthy 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.
Environmental challenges
– Korea Healthy 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. Korea Healthy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Cconma.com in South Korea: An Innovative E-Commerce Platform 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 Korea Healthy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.