R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women
While R. J. Reynolds prepares to launch a new cigarette designed to recapture a portion of the 18- to 24-year-old female market from Philip Morris's rival Marlboro, a small health advocacy group receives an anonymous package exposing the marketing plans for the new brand. Poses the tactical strategies of the public health advocates against the defensive strategies of RJR as each group pursues its own goals.
Swot Analysis of "R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women" written by Robbin Derry, Sachin Waikar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cigarette Reynolds's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Social responsibility, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cigarette Reynolds's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cigarette Reynolds's 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cigarette Reynolds's
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 Cigarette Reynolds's
Strengths R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cigarette Reynolds's in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Cigarette Reynolds's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cigarette Reynolds's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Cigarette Reynolds's 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 Cigarette Reynolds's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Cigarette Reynolds's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 Cigarette Reynolds's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cigarette Reynolds's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cigarette Reynolds's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Cigarette Reynolds's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cigarette Reynolds's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cigarette Reynolds's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Organizational Resilience of Cigarette Reynolds's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cigarette Reynolds's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cigarette Reynolds's 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. Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cigarette Reynolds's 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
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 Cigarette Reynolds's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cigarette Reynolds's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 Cigarette Reynolds's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cigarette Reynolds's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cigarette Reynolds's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women, it seems that the employees of Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cigarette Reynolds's 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 - R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Opportunities R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women | 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cigarette Reynolds's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Cigarette Reynolds's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cigarette Reynolds's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cigarette Reynolds's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cigarette Reynolds's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women case study. Cigarette Reynolds's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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, Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cigarette Reynolds's 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, R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women, 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, Cigarette Reynolds's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cigarette Reynolds's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cigarette Reynolds's to increase its market reach. Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Threats R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women are -
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 Cigarette Reynolds's.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cigarette Reynolds's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
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.
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. Cigarette Reynolds's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Increasing wage structure of Cigarette Reynolds's
– 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 Cigarette Reynolds's.
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. Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cigarette Reynolds's 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women .
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. Cigarette Reynolds's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cigarette Reynolds's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Cigarette Reynolds's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A2): Designed for Young Women 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 Cigarette Reynolds's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.