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Benetton (A), Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Benetton (A), Spanish Version


The world's largest manufacturer of woolen outerwear garments seeks to extend its retailing network to the United States from its base in Europe. A number of issues concerning marketing, manufacturing, and logistics strategy are raised by the proposed move along with specific questions about how the move should be managed. The case describes a well-thought-out, functionally integrated strategy for Europe in a way that allows assessment of its applicability for a proposed U.S. effort.

Authors :: James L. Heskett, Sergio Signorelli

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Manufacturing, Networking, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Benetton (A), Spanish Version" written by James L. Heskett, Sergio Signorelli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Outerwear Woolen facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Benetton (A), Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Networking and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Benetton (A), Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Benetton (A), Spanish Version


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Benetton (A), Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Outerwear Woolen, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Outerwear Woolen 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Benetton (A), Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Outerwear Woolen
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 Outerwear Woolen




Strengths Benetton (A), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Outerwear Woolen in Benetton (A), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Analytics focus

– Outerwear Woolen 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 James L. Heskett, Sergio Signorelli 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Outerwear Woolen in the sector have low bargaining power. Benetton (A), Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Outerwear Woolen to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field

– Outerwear Woolen is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Outerwear Woolen in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Training and development

– Outerwear Woolen has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Benetton (A), Spanish Version 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.

High brand equity

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Outerwear Woolen 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Outerwear Woolen is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Benetton (A), 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Outerwear Woolen 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Benetton (A), 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.

Organizational Resilience of Outerwear Woolen

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Outerwear Woolen does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Diverse revenue streams

– Outerwear Woolen is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Benetton (A), 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.






Weaknesses Benetton (A), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Benetton (A), Spanish Version are -

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 Outerwear Woolen supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Benetton (A), 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 Outerwear Woolen vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Benetton (A), Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Outerwear Woolen 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Outerwear Woolen products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Outerwear Woolen needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Outerwear Woolen is planning to shift buying processes online.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Benetton (A), Spanish Version has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Outerwear Woolen 's lucrative customers.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Benetton (A), Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Outerwear Woolen needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Benetton (A), Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Outerwear Woolen has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Outerwear Woolen has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Benetton (A), 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 Outerwear Woolen has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Outerwear Woolen 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Outerwear Woolen is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Benetton (A), 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 bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, James L. Heskett, Sergio Signorelli suggests that, Outerwear Woolen 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.




Opportunities Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version are -

Buying journey improvements

– Outerwear Woolen can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Benetton (A), 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.

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 Outerwear Woolen 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.

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 Outerwear Woolen in the consumer business. Now Outerwear Woolen can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Outerwear Woolen 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Outerwear Woolen 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Outerwear Woolen can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Outerwear Woolen operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Outerwear Woolen 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.

Better consumer reach

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

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. Outerwear Woolen can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Outerwear Woolen has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Benetton (A), Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Outerwear Woolen to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Outerwear Woolen 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, Benetton (A), Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.




Threats Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version are -

Environmental challenges

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

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Outerwear Woolen 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 Benetton (A), Spanish Version .

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. Outerwear Woolen can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Regulatory challenges

– Outerwear Woolen 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Benetton (A), Spanish Version, Outerwear Woolen 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 .

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Outerwear Woolen 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Outerwear Woolen has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Outerwear Woolen 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Outerwear Woolen 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.

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. Outerwear Woolen 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. Outerwear Woolen needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Outerwear Woolen 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), 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 Benetton (A), 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 Outerwear Woolen needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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