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Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain


With 26 casinos in 13 U.S. states and $4.5 billion in revenue in 2003, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. was one of the leading brand names in the casino entertainment industry. Bill Harrah, the founder of Harrah's, was passionate about getting to know his customers and had instilled a deeply rooted commitment to customer satisfaction into Harrah's corporate philosophy. In 2003, Harrah's was focused on building loyalty and value with its target customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence, and technology leadership. Through innovative customer relationship management strategies, effective management of its service supply chain, and sizable investments in enabling information technology, the company was at the forefront in attracting, serving, and retaining its customers.

Authors :: Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang, Kamram Ahsan, Earl Gordon

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: IT, Supply chain, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain" written by Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang, Kamram Ahsan, Earl Gordon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Harrah's Entertainment facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain casestudy better are - – technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harrah's Entertainment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harrah's Entertainment 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harrah's Entertainment
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 Harrah's Entertainment




Strengths Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Harrah's Entertainment in Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Harrah's Entertainment in the sector have low bargaining power. Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Harrah's Entertainment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Harrah's Entertainment 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Harrah's Entertainment has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment

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

Successful track record of launching new products

– Harrah's Entertainment has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Harrah's Entertainment is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Training and development

– Harrah's Entertainment has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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.

Strong track record of project management

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

High brand equity

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harrah's Entertainment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harrah's Entertainment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Analytics focus

– Harrah's Entertainment 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 Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang, Kamram Ahsan, Earl Gordon 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.

Organizational Resilience of Harrah's Entertainment

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






Weaknesses Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain, in the dynamic environment Harrah's Entertainment has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Harrah's Entertainment 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain HBR case study mentions - Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Harrah's Entertainment is planning to shift buying processes online.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain, 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 bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang, Kamram Ahsan, Earl Gordon suggests that, Harrah's Entertainment 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain, is just above the industry average. Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Harrah's Entertainment products

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Harrah's Entertainment, firm in the HBR case study Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Harrah's Entertainment 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.




Opportunities Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain | 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Manufacturing automation

– Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Harrah's Entertainment 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Harrah's Entertainment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Harrah's Entertainment can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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. Harrah's Entertainment can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Harrah's Entertainment to increase its market reach. Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Harrah's Entertainment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Harrah's Entertainment to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain case study. Harrah's Entertainment can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Harrah's Entertainment in the consumer business. Now Harrah's Entertainment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Harrah's Entertainment 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.

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 Harrah's Entertainment 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Harrah's Entertainment can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Harrah's Entertainment 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, Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain, 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain are -

Increasing wage structure of Harrah's Entertainment

– 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 Harrah's Entertainment.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Harrah's Entertainment has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Harrah's Entertainment 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.

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. Harrah's Entertainment needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

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. Harrah's Entertainment 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

– Harrah's Entertainment 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. Harrah's Entertainment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Harrah's Entertainment is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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. Harrah's Entertainment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Harrah's Entertainment 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Harrah's Entertainment 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.

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 Harrah's Entertainment.

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 Harrah's Entertainment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment Inc.: Real-Time CRM in a Service Supply Chain 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 Harrah's Entertainment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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