America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A)
Four teams across the world are furiously designing, building, testing, and learning to sail a boat that would be one-of-a-kind, in order to win the 2013 America's Cup. Choosing the best development path was a challenge as the teams had less than three years to prepare, and each decision would affect the performance of the boat as well as the duration of the sailors' training. The case traces the dilemma faced by the favorite, ORACLE TEAM USA (OTUSA), as rumors grew that the challenger was pursuing a revolutionary technology that would enable its six-ton boat to literally fly above waves. With only a year left before the Cup, should OTUSA keep refining its current technology called "skimming", or should it pivot towards "foiling" (flying)? At this stage "foiling" could be a red herring, and even if it was not, the limits of the performance of a foiling boat would remain a mystery for some time. The case explores the dilemma of managing innovation in an uncertain environment, where the decision would be sanctioned a year later by a win or a loss.
Authors :: Rory McDonald, Alan MacCormack, Vanessa Ampelas
Swot Analysis of "America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A)" written by Rory McDonald, Alan MacCormack, Vanessa Ampelas includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Foiling Boat facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Risk management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Foiling Boat, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Foiling 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Foiling Boat
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 Foiling Boat
Strengths America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Foiling Boat in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Foiling Boat
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Foiling Boat does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Foiling Boat digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Foiling 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Foiling 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.
Analytics focus
– Foiling Boat 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 Rory McDonald, Alan MacCormack, Vanessa Ampelas 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Foiling 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Foiling Boat to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Foiling Boat to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Diverse revenue streams
– Foiling Boat is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Innovation driven organization
– Foiling Boat is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Foiling 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Foiling Boat is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Foiling Boat 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A), in the dynamic environment Foiling Boat has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Foiling Boat has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Foiling 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. Foiling 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Foiling Boat 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Foiling Boat is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Foiling Boat 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 - America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A), 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Foiling Boat 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 Foiling Boat, firm in the HBR case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Foiling Boat 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, Foiling Boat is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) HBR case study mentions - Foiling 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.
Opportunities America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) are -
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 Foiling Boat in the consumer business. Now Foiling Boat can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Foiling Boat 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.
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 Foiling Boat 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Foiling Boat can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Foiling Boat operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Foiling Boat to increase its market reach. Foiling 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Foiling 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Foiling Boat 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Foiling Boat can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Foiling Boat can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Foiling Boat has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Foiling Boat to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) case study. Foiling Boat can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Foiling Boat 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Foiling Boat 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.
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. Foiling Boat can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) are -
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 Foiling 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Foiling 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Foiling 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 America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Foiling 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.
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 Foiling Boat.
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 Foiling Boat in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Foiling Boat 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. Foiling Boat can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Foiling 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Foiling Boat is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Foiling Boat can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Foiling Boat 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of America's Cup in 2013: Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Foiling Boat needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.