Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version
A town, "Michigan's little Bavaria," discusses word-of-mouth referral. Enables students to calculate the value of word-of-mouth and understand how to increase it.
Swot Analysis of "Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version" written by Roger Hallowell, Abby Hansen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mouth Word facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mouth Word, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mouth Word 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mouth Word
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 Mouth Word
Strengths Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mouth Word in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Mouth Word is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mouth Word 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mouth Word in the sector have low bargaining power. Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mouth Word to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mouth Word 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mouth Word 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Mouth Word has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mouth Word to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Mouth Word is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mouth Word in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mouth Word to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mouth Word to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mouth Word is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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
– Mouth Word 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 Roger Hallowell, Abby Hansen 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.
Weaknesses Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mouth Word 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mouth Word 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mouth Word is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Mouth Word supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mouth Word vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Roger Hallowell, Abby Hansen suggests that, Mouth Word 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Mouth Word has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mouth Word 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. Mouth Word 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mouth Word is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mouth Word products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mouth Word needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mouth Word, firm in the HBR case study Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Mouth Word 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.
Opportunities Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version | 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mouth Word to increase its market reach. Mouth Word 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mouth Word can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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
– Mouth Word 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mouth Word 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mouth Word 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, Mouth Word is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mouth Word 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mouth Word can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mouth Word 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mouth Word has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mouth Word to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version case study. Mouth Word can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Mouth Word 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mouth Word 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mouth Word can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version are -
Increasing wage structure of Mouth Word
– 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 Mouth Word.
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. Mouth Word 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mouth Word with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Mouth Word 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mouth Word 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version .
Environmental challenges
– Mouth Word 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. Mouth Word can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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. Mouth Word can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mouth Word.
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. Mouth Word needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Mouth Word business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mouth Word is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mouth Word 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mouth Word 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Taste of Frankenmuth: A Town in Michigan Thinks About Word-of-Mouth Referral, Spanish Version 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 Mouth Word needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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