Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker
On March 12, 2005, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Chartwell Technologies (Chartwell), a company that specialized in Internet gaming development, noticed something interesting. The CNN headline news ticker on his television read: "Online Poker Industry Expected to Grow by Billions within the Year." The CEO and his partner, the vice-president of business development, were about to decide whether to acquire MicroPower Inc. (MicroPower), an online poker company, for US$2.6 million in cash. The industry certainly had the potential for explosive growth. The CEO had to decide whether Chartwell should upgrade its current technology or purchase MicroPower to gain instant access to its C++ platform to take advantage of the growth on the online poker industry.
Swot Analysis of "Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker" written by Michael Rouse, David Maslach includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chartwell Poker facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chartwell Poker, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chartwell Poker
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 Chartwell Poker
Strengths Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chartwell Poker in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Poker is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Chartwell Poker is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Chartwell Poker in the sector have low bargaining power. Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Chartwell Poker to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chartwell Poker to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chartwell Poker to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Chartwell Poker has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chartwell Poker to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Chartwell Poker digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Chartwell Poker 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Chartwell Poker is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Poker in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chartwell Poker has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chartwell Poker 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Chartwell Poker in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Poker 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Chartwell Poker 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Poker has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker, in the dynamic environment Chartwell Poker has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker HBR case study mentions - Chartwell Poker 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Chartwell Poker has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chartwell Poker is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chartwell Poker is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Chartwell Poker needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chartwell Poker to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chartwell Poker 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Chartwell Poker 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Rouse, David Maslach suggests that, Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker | 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chartwell Poker is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Poker can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Chartwell Poker can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chartwell Poker operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Chartwell Poker has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Chartwell Poker to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker case study. Chartwell Poker can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Chartwell Poker 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.
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 Chartwell Poker in the consumer business. Now Chartwell Poker can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Chartwell Poker can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Chartwell Poker 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Chartwell Poker 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, Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Chartwell Poker 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chartwell Poker 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.
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. Chartwell Poker 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. Chartwell Poker 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chartwell Poker to increase its market reach. Chartwell Poker 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.
Threats Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker .
Increasing wage structure of Chartwell Poker
– 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 Chartwell Poker.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Chartwell Poker has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chartwell Poker 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
– Chartwell Poker 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker, Chartwell Poker 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 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. Chartwell Poker needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Chartwell Poker 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. Chartwell Poker 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 Chartwell Poker in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Chartwell Poker 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.
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 Chartwell Poker business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chartwell Poker 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.
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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Technologies: Upping the Ante with Internet Poker 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 Chartwell Poker needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
