Case Study Description of Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning
This case presents the first of two workshop descriptions and templates for the Sustainable Marketing Leadership (SML) executive program. It enables a top management team to focus on the first two steps in the four-step SML process: strategic visioning and integrated planning.
Swot Analysis of "Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning" written by Benson P. Shapiro includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sml Visioning facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sml Visioning, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sml Visioning
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 Sml Visioning
Strengths Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sml Visioning in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sml Visioning in the sector have low bargaining power. Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sml Visioning to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Sml Visioning
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sml Visioning does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Sml Visioning is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Sml Visioning 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 Benson P. Shapiro 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sml Visioning in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Sml Visioning has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sml Visioning to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sml Visioning is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning - 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
– Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sml Visioning to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sml Visioning to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Sml Visioning 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 Sml Visioning in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sml Visioning has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sml Visioning 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sml Visioning 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. Sml Visioning even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High 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 Sml Visioning supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sml Visioning vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Sml Visioning 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sml Visioning products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sml Visioning is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sml Visioning has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sml Visioning has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sml Visioning 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sml Visioning is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning | 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sml Visioning to increase its market reach. Sml Visioning 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sml Visioning 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sml Visioning 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 Sml Visioning to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Sml Visioning 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 Sml Visioning 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sml Visioning can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sml Visioning operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sml Visioning 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, Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Sml Visioning can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sml Visioning to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sml Visioning can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sml Visioning 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sml Visioning 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.
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. Sml Visioning 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. Sml Visioning 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.
Threats Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sml Visioning with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sml Visioning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sml Visioning has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sml Visioning 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sml Visioning
– 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 Sml Visioning.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning, Sml Visioning 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 .
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 Sml Visioning in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Sml Visioning 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.
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. Sml Visioning can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sml Visioning 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.
Environmental challenges
– Sml Visioning 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. Sml Visioning 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 Sml Visioning is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Sml Visioning needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sustainable Marketing Leadership--Workshop I: Strategic Visioning and Integrated Planning 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 Sml Visioning needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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