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 - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jewellery Basis.this in the sector have low bargaining power. Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jewellery Basis.this to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Jewellery Basis.this 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 Jewellery Basis.this in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Jewellery Basis.this 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 Marina Apaydin, Hend Mostafa, Mariam Mohamed Sherin, Mariam Ali Mobarak 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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jewellery Basis.this in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
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 -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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 Jewellery Basis.this has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Jewellery Basis.this is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Jewellery Basis.this products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Jewellery Basis.this 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 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jewellery Basis.this is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Jewellery Basis.this needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jewellery Basis.this to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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 -
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jewellery Basis.this has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jewellery Basis.this to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup case study. Jewellery Basis.this can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jewellery Basis.this is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Jewellery Basis.this 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, Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Jewellery Basis.this can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Restructuring a Successful Startup 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.
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 -
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Jewellery Basis.this business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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 .
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.
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 Jewellery Basis.this.
Regulatory challenges
– Jewellery Basis.this 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.
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.