Case Study Description of Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat
An Ocean Yachts 42 Super Sport (42SS) in mint condition and loaded with the latest in sportfishing accessories has been listed for sale at a time when the market for this kind of equipment is slow. The seller inherited the boat and the sportfishing charter business from his father. However, after six months, the seller opted to close the doors and sell the boat. Ads have been placed in specialized magazines, but no concrete interest has materialized. Two days ago, however, an interested buyer came on the scene. The buyer is planning to start his own saltwater fishing business in the Florida area. There are a few similar boats on the market that may satisfy the buyer, but the 2006 Ocean 42SS is almost perfect for the buyer's objectives.
Swot Analysis of "Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat" written by John Zerio includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 42ss Boat facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 42ss Boat, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 42ss Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 42ss Boat
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 42ss Boat
Strengths Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 42ss Boat in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– 42ss Boat 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
– Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 42ss Boat to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 42ss Boat to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– 42ss Boat is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that 42ss Boat 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 42ss Boat in the sector have low bargaining power. Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps 42ss Boat to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of 42ss Boat
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 42ss Boat does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- 42ss Boat 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 42ss Boat is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– 42ss Boat has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 42ss Boat 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.
Training and development
– 42ss Boat has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– 42ss Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat - 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 42ss Boat digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. 42ss Boat 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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.
Weaknesses Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat HBR case study mentions - 42ss Boat 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat, in the dynamic environment 42ss Boat has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. 42ss Boat has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of 42ss Boat products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, 42ss Boat 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, 42ss Boat 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. 42ss Boat 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
42ss Boat 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, 42ss Boat 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat, it seems that the employees of 42ss Boat 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of 42ss Boat is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. 42ss Boat needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help 42ss Boat to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 42ss Boat has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 42ss Boat 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat, is just above the industry average. 42ss Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat | 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for 42ss Boat 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 42ss Boat to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of 42ss Boat has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help 42ss Boat to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat case study. 42ss Boat can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, 42ss Boat 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, Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 42ss Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 42ss Boat to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. 42ss Boat 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. 42ss Boat 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.
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 42ss Boat in the consumer business. Now 42ss Boat can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. 42ss Boat can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– 42ss Boat 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, 42ss Boat is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, 42ss Boat 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help 42ss Boat to increase its market reach. 42ss Boat 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, 42ss Boat can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that 42ss Boat operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Loyalty marketing
– 42ss Boat 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.
Threats Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. 42ss Boat can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. 42ss Boat 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 42ss Boat 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.
Regulatory challenges
– 42ss Boat 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– 42ss Boat 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– 42ss Boat has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, 42ss Boat 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, 42ss Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– 42ss Boat 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.
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 42ss Boat 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.
Increasing wage structure of 42ss Boat
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of 42ss Boat.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 42ss Boat 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 Ocean 42SS: Fishing Boat 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 42ss Boat needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
