Case Study Description of Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.The Mekanism case introduces students to a digital media production company specialized in creating viral marketing campaigns for advertising agencies and their clients (e.g., Microsoft, AXE, eBay, Toyota, etc.). Mekanism has grown tremendously from 2007 to 2010 in part due to the rise of viral marketing as a promising promotion tool for advertisers to reach and engage with consumers cheaply and quickly via word-of-mouth. Mekanism's president is contemplating expanding its services to other advertising content and media (e.g., televison, print, online) in effect becoming a full-service ad agency. This case is intended to discuss whether Mekanism should 'evolve' into an ad agency or keep focused on producing and distributing viral marketing content.
Swot Analysis of "Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing" written by Thales S. Teixeira, Alison Caverly includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mekanism Viral facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications, Disruptive innovation, Growth strategy, Marketing, Strategy execution and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mekanism Viral, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mekanism Viral 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mekanism Viral
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 Mekanism Viral
Strengths Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mekanism Viral in Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mekanism Viral has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mekanism Viral 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.
High brand equity
– Mekanism Viral has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mekanism Viral to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mekanism Viral 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
– Mekanism Viral is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mekanism Viral 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mekanism Viral 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 Mekanism Viral digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mekanism Viral 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.
Organizational Resilience of Mekanism Viral
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mekanism Viral does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mekanism Viral to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mekanism Viral to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mekanism Viral in the sector have low bargaining power. Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mekanism Viral to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Mekanism Viral 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 Mekanism Viral is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mekanism Viral 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.
Weaknesses Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mekanism Viral is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Mekanism Viral needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mekanism Viral to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing, is just above the industry average. Mekanism Viral 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mekanism Viral products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mekanism Viral needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mekanism Viral is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mekanism Viral 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing, it seems that the employees of Mekanism Viral 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mekanism Viral 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mekanism Viral 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 - Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mekanism Viral, firm in the HBR case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mekanism Viral 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.
Opportunities Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing | 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mekanism Viral 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mekanism Viral 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.
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 Mekanism Viral in the consumer business. Now Mekanism Viral can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Mekanism Viral 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
– Mekanism Viral can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mekanism Viral 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mekanism Viral 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mekanism Viral to increase its market reach. Mekanism Viral 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. Mekanism Viral can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mekanism Viral 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mekanism Viral 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, Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mekanism Viral 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mekanism Viral 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing are -
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing, Mekanism Viral 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mekanism Viral with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Mekanism Viral.
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 Mekanism Viral in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mekanism Viral 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.
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 Mekanism Viral 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.
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. Mekanism Viral can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mekanism Viral business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mekanism Viral 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.
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. Mekanism Viral 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
– Mekanism Viral has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mekanism Viral 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing 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 Mekanism Viral needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
