International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up
Describes the International Fight League's (IFL) formation and growth, the mixed-martial arts (MMA) industry in 2007, and culminates in the dilemma of what the company should do strategically in order to survive. After going public, the company faced competition from various new small players like itself, and from dominant player UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). As the company fell below break-even, its challenge became to search for one or more types of revenue streams to "salvage" itself before burning through its remaining cash reserves. Evaluates the typical revenue streams of sports companies, such as television, team sponsorship, league sponsorship, advertising, merchandising, and live arena events. Each strategic direction is evaluated, given its corresponding operational model, cost of ramp-up (particularly considering UFC's position), and sustainable barriers to entry. Looks at typical challenges faced by management of a publicly traded company caught in a strategic pinch by looking at the IFL's situation.
Swot Analysis of "International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up" written by George Foster, Patrick Arippol includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Martial Streams facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Employee retention, International business, Mergers & acquisitions, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Martial Streams, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Martial Streams 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Martial Streams
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 Martial Streams
Strengths International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Martial Streams in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Martial Streams has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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.
Organizational Resilience of Martial Streams
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Martial Streams 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 Martial Streams digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Martial Streams 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Martial Streams is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Martial Streams 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
– Martial Streams 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
– Martial Streams has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Martial Streams 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Martial Streams 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Martial Streams to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Martial Streams to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Martial Streams 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 George Foster, Patrick Arippol 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Martial Streams 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Martial Streams is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Martial Streams needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Martial Streams to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Martial Streams 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, George Foster, Patrick Arippol suggests that, Martial Streams 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Martial Streams products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Martial Streams needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, is just above the industry average. Martial Streams 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Martial Streams is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, in the dynamic environment Martial Streams has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Martial Streams has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 Martial Streams 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Martial Streams 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, it seems that the employees of Martial Streams 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.
Opportunities International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up | 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up are -
Loyalty marketing
– Martial Streams 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 Martial Streams 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Martial Streams 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.
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. Martial Streams can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Martial Streams 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
– Martial Streams can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Martial Streams 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Martial Streams 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, Martial Streams is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Martial Streams to increase its market reach. Martial Streams 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Martial Streams 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Martial Streams 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Martial Streams 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, International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Martial Streams has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Martial Streams to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up case study. Martial Streams can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Martial Streams with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Martial Streams 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.
Increasing wage structure of Martial Streams
– 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 Martial Streams.
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 Martial Streams business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Martial Streams can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Martial Streams.
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. Martial Streams 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Martial Streams 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.
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 Martial Streams in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up, Martial Streams 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 .
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. Martial Streams needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Martial Streams is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 International Fight League: Strategy for a Mixed-Martial Arts Start-Up 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 Martial Streams needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
