Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone
When the first Discovery Zone, opened January 2, 1990, was immediately popular, Chairman Jim Jorgensen and his small team decided to open multiple stores quickly in the belief that whoever was first would own the business. They decided to use franchising as the method of expansion because it would allow the company to expand rapidly, fund its growth, and secure dedicated management. However, the company was unprepared for franchising, as there was no clear market size to support each store. Jorgensen recognized that there were other questions to be answered as well: Should all the stores be the same size? Should Discovery Zone also have some company-owned stores? How would franchising change the nature of competition in this newly emerging market? At the time of the case, just three weeks after the company had been operational, the principals are thinking about these questions and what they should do next.
Authors :: Thomas Hellmann, Marla Blow, Blair Boardman
Swot Analysis of "Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone" written by Thomas Hellmann, Marla Blow, Blair Boardman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jorgensen Zone facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Generational issues, Strategic planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jorgensen Zone, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jorgensen Zone
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 Jorgensen Zone
Strengths Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jorgensen Zone in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone 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
– Jorgensen Zone is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Jorgensen Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Thomas Hellmann, Marla Blow, Blair Boardman 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.
High brand equity
– Jorgensen Zone has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jorgensen Zone to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Jorgensen Zone is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jorgensen Zone digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jorgensen Zone 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Jorgensen Zone is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Jorgensen Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jorgensen Zone vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jorgensen Zone is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Jorgensen Zone needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jorgensen Zone to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jorgensen Zone 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. Jorgensen Zone 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Jorgensen Zone 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jorgensen Zone 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Jorgensen Zone 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone, 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.
Opportunities Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone | 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jorgensen Zone has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jorgensen Zone to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone case study. Jorgensen Zone can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone 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.
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. Jorgensen Zone can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Jorgensen Zone to increase its market reach. Jorgensen Zone 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
– Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Jorgensen Zone to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jorgensen Zone can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Jorgensen Zone 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Jorgensen Zone 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, Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Jorgensen Zone 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jorgensen Zone is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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.
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 Jorgensen Zone in the consumer business. Now Jorgensen Zone 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. Jorgensen Zone can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jorgensen Zone 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. Jorgensen Zone can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jorgensen Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jorgensen Zone 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Jorgensen Zone has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Jorgensen Zone 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jorgensen Zone 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.
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 Jorgensen Zone.
Regulatory challenges
– Jorgensen Zone 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Jorgensen Zone 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.
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 Jorgensen Zone business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Jorgensen Zone 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jim Jorgensen: The Initial Days at Discovery Zone 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 Jorgensen Zone needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
