Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study Description of Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A)
The case describes an international agreement to phase out child labor in soccer-ball manufacturing. This high-profile agreement, which resolves major brand manufacturers, has been hailed as an example of socially responsible corporate policy.
Authors :: Olivier Cadot, Robert Crawford, Daniel Traca
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: International business, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A)" written by Olivier Cadot, Robert Crawford, Daniel Traca includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Soccer Child facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Social responsibility and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Soccer Child, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Soccer Child 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Soccer Child
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 Soccer Child
Strengths Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Soccer Child in Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Soccer Child is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Soccer Child to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Soccer Child to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Soccer Child has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Soccer Child 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Soccer Child is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Soccer Child 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 Olivier Cadot, Robert Crawford, Daniel Traca 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
– Soccer Child 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 Soccer Child in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Soccer Child in the sector have low bargaining power. Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Soccer Child to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Soccer Child has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Soccer Child to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Soccer Child digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Soccer Child 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Soccer Child 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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
– Soccer Child 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) are -
Need for greater diversity
– Soccer Child 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Soccer Child 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. Soccer Child 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Child 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Soccer Child, firm in the HBR case study Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Soccer Child 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) HBR case study mentions - Soccer Child takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Soccer Child is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Olivier Cadot, Robert Crawford, Daniel Traca suggests that, Soccer Child 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A), in the dynamic environment Soccer Child has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Soccer Child has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Soccer Child 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Soccer Child 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.
Opportunities Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) | 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Soccer Child 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Soccer Child can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Soccer Child operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Soccer Child 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Soccer Child 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 Soccer Child to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Soccer Child 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Soccer Child is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Soccer Child can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Soccer Child can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Soccer Child 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 Soccer Child to increase its market reach. Soccer Child will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Soccer Child can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Soccer Child can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Soccer Child can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Soccer Child 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.
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 Soccer Child in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Soccer Child business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Soccer Child with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Soccer Child 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.
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. Soccer Child can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Soccer Child 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.
Environmental challenges
– Soccer Child 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. Soccer Child can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Soccer Child needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Soccer Child 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Soccer Child 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A), Soccer Child may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Soccer Child has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Soccer Child needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Balls Made for Children by Children? Child Labor in Pakistan (A) 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 Soccer Child needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
