Case Study Description of Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls
This case features Old Spice's efforts to reposition Glacial Falls after sales stagnated in the United States. The challenges in this case are twofold. First, it sets the stage for deciding whether and how to reposition a brand after a period of significant stagnation. This entails a targeting dilemma about whether to keep existing customers or take the risk of losing them to go after a new target. Second, this case examines whether the company should make a sensory change in the product (i.e., the scent) or whether it should undertake a cognitive change in the positioning of the product instead.
Swot Analysis of "Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls" written by Derek D. Rucker, David Dubois includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Glacial Falls facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Glacial Falls, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Glacial Falls
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 Glacial Falls
Strengths Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Glacial Falls in Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Glacial Falls to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Glacial Falls to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Glacial Falls
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Glacial Falls does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Glacial Falls in the sector have low bargaining power. Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Glacial Falls to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Glacial Falls 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Glacial Falls 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 Glacial Falls in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Glacial Falls has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Glacial Falls is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Glacial Falls has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Glacial Falls to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Glacial Falls in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Glacial Falls has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Glacial Falls 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.
Weaknesses Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Glacial Falls has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Glacial Falls, firm in the HBR case study Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Glacial Falls 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Derek D. Rucker, David Dubois suggests that, Glacial Falls 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Glacial Falls 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. Glacial Falls 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls HBR case study mentions - Glacial Falls 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
Glacial Falls has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High 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 Glacial Falls supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Glacial Falls vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls, it seems that the employees of Glacial Falls 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Glacial Falls 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Glacial Falls 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.
Opportunities Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls | 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Glacial Falls 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, Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Glacial Falls can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Glacial Falls operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Glacial Falls 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Glacial Falls 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Glacial Falls 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Glacial Falls has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Glacial Falls to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls case study. Glacial Falls can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Glacial Falls 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Glacial Falls can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Glacial Falls 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Glacial Falls 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.
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 Glacial Falls 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Glacial Falls 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 Glacial Falls to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Glacial Falls can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls are -
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. Glacial Falls can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Glacial Falls.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Glacial Falls 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.
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. Glacial Falls needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Glacial Falls has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Glacial Falls 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Glacial Falls 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls, Glacial Falls 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 Glacial Falls in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Glacial Falls needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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. Glacial Falls 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.
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 Glacial Falls business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Old Spice: Revitalizing Glacial Falls 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 Glacial Falls needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
