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Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company


In April 1997, senior management at Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe (BPE) was focused on making the virtual company concept a reality. BPE was moving away from a confederation of national sales companies toward a number of geographically dispersed business teams serving all of Europe. An infrastructure was being put in place to support the teams. Immediate operational opportunities and challenges lay in the implementation of SAP System R/3, due to go live in a matter of weeks, and the radical re-engineering of BPE's supply chain. Key considerations were the increased use of air freight between Sony factories in Japan and BPE, the consolidation of BPE inventories in fewer locations, and the choice of a global logistics provider to partner with Sony BPE in the direct delivery of BPE products from its distribution centers to dealers within Europe. The case serves as a vehicle to discuss the transformation of bricks and mortar distribution systems to those needed to support e-business. A 2000 EFMD award winner.

Authors :: Robert S. Collins, Kimberly A. Bechler

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Leading teams, Marketing, Strategy execution, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company" written by Robert S. Collins, Kimberly A. Bechler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bpe Sony facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams, Marketing, Strategy execution, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bpe Sony, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bpe Sony 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bpe Sony
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bpe Sony




Strengths Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Bpe Sony in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

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

High brand equity

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Bpe Sony is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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.

Analytics focus

– Bpe Sony 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 Robert S. Collins, Kimberly A. Bechler 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Bpe Sony 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bpe Sony to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bpe Sony to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Bpe Sony 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Bpe Sony is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Bpe Sony has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bpe Sony 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.

Learning organization

- Bpe Sony 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 Bpe Sony is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Bpe Sony is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Strong track record of project management

– Bpe Sony is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.






Weaknesses Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Bpe Sony has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Bpe Sony 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bpe Sony 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bpe Sony is planning to shift buying processes online.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Bpe Sony 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 - Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert S. Collins, Kimberly A. Bechler suggests that, Bpe Sony 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company HBR case study mentions - Bpe Sony 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Bpe Sony 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Bpe Sony, firm in the HBR case study Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.




Opportunities Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company | 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company are -

Better consumer reach

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bpe Sony 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, Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bpe Sony can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Manufacturing automation

– Bpe Sony can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bpe Sony 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 Bpe Sony to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bpe Sony is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bpe Sony in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Buying journey improvements

– Bpe Sony can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Bpe Sony can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.

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 Bpe Sony 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bpe Sony can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bpe Sony 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bpe Sony 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. Bpe Sony 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.




Threats Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Consumer confidence and its impact on Bpe Sony 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.

Increasing wage structure of Bpe Sony

– 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 Bpe Sony.

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. Bpe Sony 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.

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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bpe Sony can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bpe Sony in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.

Environmental challenges

– Bpe Sony 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. Bpe Sony can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.

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 Bpe Sony in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Bpe Sony 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 Bpe Sony business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company, Bpe Sony may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Sony Broadcast and Professional Europe: Becoming a Virtual Company 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 Bpe Sony needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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