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Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A)


Introduces a "new-economy" company, Madison Avenue, facing challenges of mega-success. In the two years since its founding, the company's revenues have grown from zero to nearly $30 million, head count has swollen from the start-up handful to more than 200, and the client base has gone from one to dozens. In the company's short life, Madison Avenue's managers have already tried four organizational forms to more efficiently and reliably meet the needs of its customers. Despite the intense, ongoing efforts to find an appropriate organizational form, employees struggle to keep pace with ever-increasing demands. Ted Samson, an implementation engineer at Madison Avenue and a reservist in the Marine Corps, expresses a collective frustration in an e-mail to his boss. The case contains a history of Madison Avenue, starting with its serendipitous creation as an outgrowth of a family business's efforts to advertise on the Web and the collateral development of an expertise in Web advertising and the evolution of the company's business model. Gives a detailed explanation of the internal processes by which Madison Avenue creates, implements, and optimizes online advertising campaigns for its clients. The case asks students to analyze how Madison Avenue currently does its work and then to design a "target condition"--based upon analysis of the company's "current condition"--of how Madison Avenue's internal processes might be redesigned in order to produce higher quality ad campaigns, at less cost, with shorter lead-times, and with greater flexibility in responding to customer needs.

Authors :: Steven J. Spear, Jeremy B. Dann

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Growth strategy, Internet, Marketing, Organizational structure, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A)" written by Steven J. Spear, Jeremy B. Dann includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Madison Avenue facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Internet, Marketing, Organizational structure, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A)


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




Strengths Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Madison Avenue in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Learning organization

- Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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

– Madison Avenue is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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.

Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Madison Avenue digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Madison Avenue 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Madison Avenue to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Madison Avenue to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Madison Avenue 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Madison Avenue is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Training and development

– Madison Avenue has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) 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

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

Innovation driven organization

– Madison Avenue is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Diverse revenue streams

– Madison Avenue is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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.

Successful track record of launching new products

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






Weaknesses Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Madison Avenue is planning to shift buying processes online.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Madison Avenue, firm in the HBR case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Madison Avenue is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Madison Avenue needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Madison Avenue to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A), is just above the industry average. Madison Avenue 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Madison Avenue 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Steven J. Spear, Jeremy B. Dann suggests that, Madison Avenue 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Madison Avenue needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) 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 Madison Avenue 's lucrative customers.

Lack of clear differentiation of Madison Avenue products

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

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Madison Avenue is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Madison Avenue 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.




Opportunities Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) are -

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. Madison Avenue can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Madison Avenue has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Madison Avenue is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) 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.

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

Increase in government spending

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Madison Avenue 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Madison Avenue 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Madison Avenue can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Madison Avenue can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Madison Avenue 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, Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A), 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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A), Madison Avenue 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 .

Environmental challenges

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

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.

Trade war between China and United States

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

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Madison Avenue 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.

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

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

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

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

Regulatory challenges

– Madison Avenue 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Madison Avenue 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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A) .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Madison Avenue 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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (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 Madison Avenue needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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