R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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 Cigarette Reynolds's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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 (A1): 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cigarette Reynolds's in the sector have low bargaining power. R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cigarette Reynolds's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cigarette Reynolds's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women 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.
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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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.
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 (A1): 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cigarette Reynolds's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cigarette Reynolds's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women, in the dynamic environment Cigarette Reynolds's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cigarette Reynolds's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 (A1): Designed for Young Women should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women 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 R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): Designed for Young Women can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cigarette Reynolds's is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robbin Derry, Sachin Waikar suggests that, Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cigarette Reynolds's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Cigarette Reynolds's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cigarette Reynolds's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
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.
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.
Opportunities R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women are -
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.
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 (A1): 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.
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.
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 (A1): 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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cigarette Reynolds's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cigarette Reynolds's 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 Cigarette Reynolds's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Cigarette Reynolds's 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. Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cigarette Reynolds's 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.
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.
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.
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 Cigarette Reynolds's in the consumer business. Now Cigarette Reynolds's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Cigarette Reynolds's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): Designed for Young Women are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cigarette Reynolds's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cigarette Reynolds's 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Cigarette Reynolds's in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 (A1): Designed for Young Women .
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.
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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of R. J. Reynolds's Dakota Cigarette (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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 (A1): 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.