Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collection"In the book, Open Services Innovation, the concept of co-creation with one's customers is touted as a best practice for companies. This is also the prescription offered by the Lead User methodology built on the work of Eric von Hippel. There are a number of companies that have benefited from embracing the idea of co-creating with customers. And business school cases in general tend to discuss successful examples of various proffered concepts. This case is different. It is, in fact, a failure case, where a company faithfully followed a "best practice", and ended up with nothing to show for it. As such, it can be a powerful antidote to the usual success cases that comprise much of our syllabi. The Webasto case study provides students with an example of a company that focused on product innovation by incorporating a lead user method. Alexander Lang, director of marketing, created an elaborate open innovation process in order to help Webasto not only create innovative products, but also to differentiate itself as an innovative company. There are a number of interesting innovation, organizational, strategy, change management, and leadership issues this case brings up, all likely to generate a lively class discussion. As it happens, some of these issues prove fatal to the initiative."
Swot Analysis of "Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users" written by Henry W. Chesbrough, Alexander Stern includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Webasto Innovation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Webasto Innovation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Webasto Innovation 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Webasto Innovation
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 Webasto Innovation
Strengths Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Webasto Innovation in Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Webasto Innovation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Webasto Innovation 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Webasto Innovation 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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
– Webasto Innovation is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Webasto Innovation 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 Webasto Innovation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Webasto Innovation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Webasto Innovation 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Webasto Innovation in the sector have low bargaining power. Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Webasto Innovation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Webasto Innovation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Webasto Innovation 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
– Webasto Innovation 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
– Webasto Innovation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Webasto Innovation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Webasto Innovation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Webasto Innovation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Webasto Innovation 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto Innovation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Webasto Innovation 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Webasto Innovation is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Webasto Innovation 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.
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 Webasto Innovation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Webasto Innovation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users HBR case study mentions - Webasto Innovation 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Webasto Innovation, firm in the HBR case study Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users, is just above the industry average. Webasto Innovation 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.
Opportunities Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users | 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Webasto Innovation to increase its market reach. Webasto Innovation 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Webasto Innovation 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.
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 Webasto Innovation 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Webasto Innovation 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Webasto Innovation 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Webasto Innovation 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.
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. Webasto Innovation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Webasto Innovation 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Webasto Innovation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Webasto Innovation 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, Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users, 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. Webasto Innovation 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. Webasto Innovation 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Webasto Innovation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Webasto Innovation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Webasto Innovation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Webasto Innovation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Webasto Innovation 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. Webasto Innovation can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Webasto Innovation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Webasto Innovation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Webasto Innovation 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.
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. Webasto Innovation will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Webasto Innovation 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.
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 Webasto Innovation in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Webasto Innovation 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.
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 Webasto Innovation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Webasto Innovation
– 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 Webasto Innovation.
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 Webasto Innovation.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto: Co-Creating Innovation with Lead Users 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 Webasto Innovation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.