Case Study Description of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup
This case and the three others in this series (9B13M098, 9B13M099 and 9B14M023) can be used together or on a standalone basis.This case series features a female Egyptian entrepreneur who faces the challenge of developing her self-titled jewellery brand. The issues are strategic in nature and typical of a growing business. Following the successful establishment of her company, she faces issues related to rapid growth; she is a "one-woman show" who controls everything in the company including marketing, operations, human resources and finance. Although she enjoyed a successful start, the tremendous growth of her company has culminated in management difficulties. Thus, she is considering how to transform her business from an entrepreneurial firm to a structured organization. Author Marina Apaydin is affiliated with American University of Beirut. Author Hend Mostafa is affiliated with American University of Cairo.
Swot Analysis of "Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup" written by Marina Apaydin, Hend Mostafa, Mariam Mohamed Sherin, Mariam Ali Mobarak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jewellery Basis.this facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jewellery Basis.this, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jewellery Basis.this 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jewellery Basis.this
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 Jewellery Basis.this
Strengths Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jewellery Basis.this in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Jewellery Basis.this is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Jewellery Basis.this is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jewellery Basis.this digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Learning organization
- Jewellery Basis.this 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 Jewellery Basis.this is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jewellery Basis.this to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jewellery Basis.this to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jewellery Basis.this 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Jewellery Basis.this is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Jewellery Basis.this has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Training and development
– Jewellery Basis.this has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Jewellery Basis.this are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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
– Jewellery Basis.this is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jewellery Basis.this 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Marina Apaydin, Hend Mostafa, Mariam Mohamed Sherin, Mariam Ali Mobarak suggests that, Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jewellery Basis.this 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 - Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jewellery Basis.this 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. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup, in the dynamic environment Jewellery Basis.this has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Jewellery Basis.this has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup, 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 Jewellery Basis.this, firm in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Jewellery Basis.this is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup | 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup are -
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 Jewellery Basis.this in the consumer business. Now Jewellery Basis.this can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jewellery Basis.this can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jewellery Basis.this operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Jewellery Basis.this 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jewellery Basis.this to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jewellery Basis.this 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 Jewellery Basis.this to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Jewellery Basis.this can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Jewellery Basis.this 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. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Jewellery Basis.this 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 Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jewellery Basis.this to increase its market reach. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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. Jewellery Basis.this can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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 Jewellery Basis.this to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup are -
Increasing wage structure of Jewellery Basis.this
– 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 Jewellery Basis.this.
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. Jewellery Basis.this needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Jewellery Basis.this in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jewellery Basis.this has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jewellery Basis.this 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup, Jewellery Basis.this 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 .
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. Jewellery Basis.this can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Jewellery Basis.this 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, Jewellery Basis.this 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup .
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. Jewellery Basis.this 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Jewellery Basis.this needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
