Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods
For years, goods that remained unsold or were returned were sold off, or disposed of, with little attention. More recently, companies have realized that they can significantly increase their revenue from sales of these goods by focusing more attention on when, how, and to whom they sell these goods. Describes the way this "secondary market" works and presents suggestions for how firms can best maximize their revenues from the use of the secondary market.
Swot Analysis of "Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods" written by Ronald S. Tibben-Lembke includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Secondary Disposed facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Secondary Disposed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Secondary Disposed 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Secondary Disposed
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 Secondary Disposed
Strengths Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Secondary Disposed in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Secondary Disposed 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Secondary Disposed 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Secondary Disposed has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Secondary Disposed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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.
Learning organization
- Secondary Disposed 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 Secondary Disposed is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Secondary Disposed 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 Ronald S. Tibben-Lembke 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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.
High brand equity
– Secondary Disposed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Secondary Disposed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Secondary Disposed is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Secondary Disposed
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Secondary Disposed does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Secondary Disposed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Secondary Disposed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Secondary Disposed digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Secondary Disposed 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.
Weaknesses Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ronald S. Tibben-Lembke suggests that, Secondary Disposed 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Secondary Disposed is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Secondary Disposed is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Secondary Disposed needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Secondary Disposed to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Secondary Disposed supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Secondary Disposed vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods, in the dynamic environment Secondary Disposed has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Secondary Disposed has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods HBR case study mentions - Secondary Disposed 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Secondary Disposed 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Secondary Disposed 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods, it seems that the employees of Secondary Disposed don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Secondary Disposed 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Secondary Disposed products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Secondary Disposed needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods | 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Secondary Disposed 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Secondary Disposed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Secondary Disposed 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.
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 Secondary Disposed in the consumer business. Now Secondary Disposed can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Secondary Disposed 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.
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 Secondary Disposed 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 Secondary Disposed 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 Secondary Disposed 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, Secondary Disposed can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Secondary Disposed operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Secondary Disposed 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, Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Secondary Disposed 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Secondary Disposed has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Secondary Disposed to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods case study. Secondary Disposed can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Secondary Disposed can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Secondary Disposed can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Secondary Disposed 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.
Threats Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Secondary Disposed 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods .
Increasing wage structure of Secondary Disposed
– 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 Secondary Disposed.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Secondary Disposed is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Secondary Disposed 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Secondary Disposed 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.
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 Secondary Disposed business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods, Secondary Disposed 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Secondary Disposed 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
– Secondary Disposed 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.
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 Secondary Disposed.
Environmental challenges
– Secondary Disposed 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. Secondary Disposed can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Secondary Disposed in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Strategic Use of the Secondary Market for Retail Consumer Goods 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 Secondary Disposed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.