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Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?


Shelby Givens, a new MBA, is the general manager of Westlake Lanes, a near-bankrupt bowling alley that her grandfather founded decades earlier. Givens has been given one year to turn a profit; if the goal is not met Westlake will close. During the first few days on the job, Givens learns that the business is in worse shape financially than she - or the board - thought. She also finds that Westlake's employees exhibit minimal productivity. Givens tackles these two issues, creatively uncovering ways to reduce costs while building morale. After nine months, the business has its first profitable month in over two years. Yet Givens is worried it is too little, too late and begins to sketch a bolder long-term strategy based on pursuing one of two alternative new markets. Students are invited to consider whether the board should accept her potentially transformative proposal, maintain existing operations, or liquidate to pay off pressing loan responsibilities. The case includes a quantitative assignment for students.

Authors :: Richard G. Hamermesh, Alisa Zalosh

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Marketing, Operations management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?" written by Richard G. Hamermesh, Alisa Zalosh includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Givens Westlake facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Marketing, Operations management and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Givens Westlake, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Givens Westlake 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Givens Westlake
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 Givens Westlake




Strengths Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Givens Westlake in Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? Harvard Business Review case study are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Givens Westlake to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Givens Westlake to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Givens Westlake 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Givens Westlake 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Analytics focus

– Givens Westlake 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 Richard G. Hamermesh, Alisa Zalosh 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.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Givens Westlake 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 Givens Westlake in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 brand equity

– Givens Westlake has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Givens Westlake to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Givens Westlake in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Givens Westlake has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of Givens Westlake

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Givens Westlake does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Givens Westlake 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.

Training and development

– Givens Westlake has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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.






Weaknesses Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? are -

Products dominated business model

– Even though Givens Westlake 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 - Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Givens Westlake is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Givens Westlake needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Givens Westlake to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Givens Westlake 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Richard G. Hamermesh, Alisa Zalosh suggests that, Givens Westlake 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Givens Westlake 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Givens Westlake 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. Givens Westlake 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?, it seems that the employees of Givens Westlake 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Givens Westlake is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Givens Westlake 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Givens Westlake 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?, is just above the industry average. Givens Westlake 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.




Opportunities Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? | 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? are -

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 Givens Westlake 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.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Givens Westlake can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Givens Westlake in the consumer business. Now Givens Westlake can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Loyalty marketing

– Givens Westlake 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Givens Westlake 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.

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. Givens Westlake 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. Givens Westlake 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Givens Westlake 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, Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Givens Westlake 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Givens Westlake has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Givens Westlake to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? case study. Givens Westlake can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Developing new processes and practices

– Givens Westlake 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Givens Westlake 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Givens Westlake to increase its market reach. Givens Westlake 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Givens Westlake 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Givens Westlake to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.




Threats Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Givens Westlake.

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. Givens Westlake needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Givens Westlake with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Givens Westlake 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.

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 Givens Westlake business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Givens Westlake is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Givens Westlake 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Givens Westlake 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? .

Environmental challenges

– Givens Westlake needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Givens Westlake can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.

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. Givens Westlake 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Givens Westlake 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 dependence on third party suppliers

– Givens Westlake 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved? 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 Givens Westlake needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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