Case Study Description of Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage
While scholars have explored the construct and ramifications of intellectual property, most research efforts have focused on patents as a means of protecting a firm's intellectual capital. Yet Hemphill (2004) suggested that trade secrets can affect the difference between economic success and failure of the firm. When trade secrets are discussed, there is a tendency to focus on the more famous secrets that have received considerable hype in the popular press (e.g., Coca-Cola, KFC, McDonald's). To address this shortage of trade secrets storytelling, the research reported here engaged in a historiographic approach to capturing and compiling an in-depth look at various company trade secrets and elaborating on the strategic intent behind many of the secrecy efforts. Product and process secrets were seen to be used to develop positive brand perceptions, establish consistent brand purchasing, aid in distinguishing products and services from competitive offerings, and build market share. We suggest that managers should regularly assess which assets are suitable for patent, product design, trademark, copyright, or trade secret status and work diligently to protect the firm's intangible assets.
Authors :: William F. Crittenden, Victoria L. Crittenden, Allison Pierpont
Swot Analysis of "Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage" written by William F. Crittenden, Victoria L. Crittenden, Allison Pierpont includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Secrets Trade facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Intellectual property, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Secrets Trade, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Secrets Trade 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Secrets Trade
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 Secrets Trade
Strengths Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Secrets Trade in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Secrets Trade has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Secrets Trade has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Secrets Trade is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Secrets Trade has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Secrets Trade 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
– Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Secrets Trade to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Secrets Trade to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Secrets Trade is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Secrets Trade 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 Secrets Trade is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Secrets Trade 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 Secrets Trade in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Secrets Trade digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Secrets Trade 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Secrets Trade in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Secrets Trade 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.
Weaknesses Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Secrets Trade is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Secrets Trade needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Secrets Trade 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage, it seems that the employees of Secrets Trade 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.
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 Secrets Trade supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Secrets Trade vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Secrets Trade, firm in the HBR case study Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Secrets Trade products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Secrets Trade needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Secrets Trade is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Secrets Trade has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage, in the dynamic environment Secrets Trade has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Secrets Trade has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage HBR case study mentions - Secrets Trade takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Secrets Trade 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Secrets Trade has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage | 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Secrets Trade has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Secrets Trade to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage case study. Secrets Trade can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Secrets Trade 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.
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. Secrets Trade can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Secrets Trade to increase its market reach. Secrets Trade 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Secrets Trade 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Secrets Trade 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, Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Secrets Trade 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. Secrets Trade 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Secrets Trade 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 Secrets Trade to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Secrets Trade 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 Secrets Trade in the consumer business. Now Secrets Trade can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Secrets Trade 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
– Secrets Trade 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.
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 Secrets Trade 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.
Threats Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Secrets Trade 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Secrets Trade 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage, Secrets Trade 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 .
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 Secrets Trade business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Secrets Trade in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Secrets Trade with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Secrets Trade can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Secrets Trade 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Secrets Trade is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Secrets Trade 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 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. Secrets Trade needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Secrets Trade 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.
Environmental challenges
– Secrets Trade 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. Secrets Trade can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Trade secrets: Managerial guidance for competitive advantage 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 Secrets Trade needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
