The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data
The Weather Company (TWC) was innovating by leveraging its big data on weather to create new consumer products. Weather was the original big data problem and over the years, TWC has capitalized on this data with its engaging TV coverage on The Weather Channel, as well as its popular website and mobile app. Recently, looking for new uses for its weather data, the company decided to build weather-related apps targeting outdoor enthusiasts. To crowd-source ideas for these apps, TWC invited all employees to a company-wide "hackathon" where they were asked to create a mobile app prototype for a segment of this population. At the end of the three-day event, everyone demonstrated their prototypes and the company executives decided to pursue OutSider, a mobile app for runners. Like most media sites, TWC employed an advertising-based revenue model. While TWC had millions of TV viewers and website visitors, it had limited information about them. However, with the profile information offered up by runners when they registered to use the OutSider app, as well as the data gathered by the smartphone sensors, TWC was poised to charge a premium for the vendor advertisements placed within the app. As well as illustrating the significance of leveraging data assets to create new products and services, the case also provides an example of the intersection of mobile and big data. When asked to name an innovative company, TWC would most likely not be top-of-mind for most individuals, yet the 30-year-old company was very entrepreneurial in its approach to consumer mobile app development. In addition to outlining TWC's ideation process, the case describes the composition of the mobile app development team, the implementation of agile software development methods, and its use of modern big data technologies. Finally, the case reviews the OutSider app's features and describes its competition. Readers are asked to contemplate how TWC can best leverage its weather data to increase its revenue going forward.
Authors :: Ruth Gilleran, Patricia J. Guinan, Salvatore Parise
Swot Analysis of "The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data" written by Ruth Gilleran, Patricia J. Guinan, Salvatore Parise includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Twc Weather facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Twc Weather, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Twc Weather 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Twc Weather
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 Twc Weather
Strengths The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Twc Weather in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Twc Weather has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Twc Weather to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Twc Weather is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Twc Weather is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Twc Weather is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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)
– Twc Weather 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Twc Weather has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Twc Weather 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
– Twc Weather 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 Ruth Gilleran, Patricia J. Guinan, Salvatore Parise 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
- Twc Weather 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 Twc Weather is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Twc Weather digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Twc Weather 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.
Organizational Resilience of Twc Weather
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Twc Weather does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Twc Weather 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Twc Weather in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ruth Gilleran, Patricia J. Guinan, Salvatore Parise suggests that, Twc Weather 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data, is just above the industry average. Twc Weather 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Twc Weather is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Twc Weather is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Twc Weather has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data, 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 Twc Weather has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Twc Weather supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Twc Weather vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Twc Weather 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Twc Weather 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Twc Weather 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. Twc Weather 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.
Opportunities The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data | 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data are -
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. Twc Weather can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Twc Weather is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Twc Weather 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 Twc Weather has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Twc Weather to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data case study. Twc Weather can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Twc Weather can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Twc Weather operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Twc Weather 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Twc Weather to increase its market reach. Twc Weather 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Twc Weather 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Twc Weather 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Twc Weather 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.
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 Twc Weather 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Twc Weather 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 Twc Weather to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Twc Weather 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Twc Weather to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data are -
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 Twc Weather in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data, Twc Weather 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Twc Weather is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Twc Weather.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Twc Weather
– 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 Twc Weather.
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 Twc Weather business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Twc Weather 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.
Environmental challenges
– Twc Weather 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. Twc Weather 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, Twc Weather 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Twc Weather 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Twc Weather with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Twc Weather has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Twc Weather 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage its Big Data 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 Twc Weather needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.