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Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs'


The Bertelsmann-owned French book club, France Loisirs, has successfully operated a subscription-based business model delivering a remarkably high profit margin. Considering rising economic pressure and a declining member base, the case introduces the club's basic business principles and summarizes strategic options for sustainability and further growth from a top management perspective.

Authors :: Claudia Loebbecke

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Customer service, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs'" written by Claudia Loebbecke includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Loisirs Book facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customer service and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs'


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Loisirs Book, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Loisirs Book 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Loisirs Book
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 Loisirs Book




Strengths Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Loisirs Book in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Loisirs Book in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Loisirs Book 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Loisirs Book has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Loisirs Book to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Analytics focus

– Loisirs Book 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 Claudia Loebbecke 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Loisirs Book to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Loisirs Book to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Loisirs Book 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 Loisirs Book is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Loisirs Book digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Loisirs Book 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Loisirs Book is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Training and development

– Loisirs Book has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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.

Organizational Resilience of Loisirs Book

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Loisirs Book does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Loisirs Book 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 Loisirs Book in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.






Weaknesses Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' are -

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs', in the dynamic environment Loisirs Book has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Loisirs Book has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Loisirs Book is planning to shift buying processes online.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Loisirs Book, firm in the HBR case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Loisirs Book 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Loisirs Book 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Claudia Loebbecke suggests that, Loisirs Book 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs', it seems that the employees of Loisirs Book 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Loisirs Book products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Loisirs Book needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Loisirs Book 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. Loisirs Book 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Loisirs Book 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs', is just above the industry average. Loisirs Book 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' | 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Loisirs Book can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Loisirs Book operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.

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. Loisirs Book 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. Loisirs Book 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Loisirs Book 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Loisirs Book 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Loisirs Book 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, Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs', to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Loisirs Book 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 Loisirs Book to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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 Loisirs Book in the consumer business. Now Loisirs Book can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Buying journey improvements

– Loisirs Book can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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.

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 Loisirs Book 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

– Loisirs Book 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Loisirs Book 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, Loisirs Book 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Loisirs Book 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.




Threats Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' are -

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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Loisirs Book is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Loisirs Book

– 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 Loisirs Book.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs', Loisirs Book 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 .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Loisirs Book 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Loisirs Book 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 Loisirs Book in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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 Loisirs Book business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Loisirs Book with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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. Loisirs Book 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Loisirs Book 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Loisirs Book 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' .

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. Loisirs Book can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Reshaping the Book Industry or Back to Basics? (B) The Case of 'France Loisirs' 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 Loisirs Book needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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