Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH
With increasing pollution and congestion, European car manufacturers were concerned that governments might eventually ban conventional cars from city centers. A smaller car had the possibility of escaping such a ban. The producer of Swatch watches, SMH AG (Swiss Corp. for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries, Ltd.), came up with the novel idea of an environmentally friendly but stylish supercompact car. The smarta would embody a whole new notion of mobility, where owning a smart car would mean purchasing an uninterrupted mobility solution, referred to as smartmove. The program would offer the smart customer attractive, favorably priced parking spaces, access to other vehicles from AVIS and car-sharers, access to other means of transport, and reduced prices for transporting the smart on ferries and trains.
Swot Analysis of "Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH" written by Hau Lee, Ozlem Yuksel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Smart Car facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Supply chain, Sustainability and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Smart Car, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Smart Car 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Smart Car
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 Smart Car
Strengths Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Smart Car in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Smart Car 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Smart Car 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Smart Car in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Smart Car is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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
– Smart Car 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 Hau Lee, Ozlem Yuksel 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.
Learning organization
- Smart Car 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 Smart Car is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Smart Car to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Smart Car to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Smart Car has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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.
Organizational Resilience of Smart Car
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Smart Car does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Smart Car has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Smart Car 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Smart Car in the sector have low bargaining power. Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Smart Car to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Smart Car, firm in the HBR case study Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Smart Car 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Smart Car 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Smart Car is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Smart Car has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH HBR case study mentions - Smart Car 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hau Lee, Ozlem Yuksel suggests that, Smart Car 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Smart Car 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Smart Car products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Smart Car needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Car has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Smart Car 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.
Opportunities Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH | 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH are -
Buying journey improvements
– Smart Car can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Smart Car can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Smart Car operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Smart Car has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Smart Car to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH case study. Smart Car can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Smart Car in the consumer business. Now Smart Car can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Smart Car 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, Smart Car is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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, Smart Car 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Smart Car 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Smart Car can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Smart Car can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Smart Car 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.
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. Smart Car 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 Smart Car 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.
Threats Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Smart Car 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
– Smart Car has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Smart Car needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Smart Car 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.
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. Smart Car 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.
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. Smart Car needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Smart Car.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Smart Car 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH .
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.
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 Smart Car business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Smart Car
– 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 Smart Car.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Smart Car is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Smart Car in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Smart Car 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH 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 Smart Car needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.