Case Study Description of E! Online (A): www.eonline.com
E! Online is the on-line brand extension of the cable-TV channel dedicated to entertainment news. E! Online must compete with other entertainment sites on the web, as well as create synergy between E! Online and E! Entertainment Television in order to build a mega-brand on the web.
Authors :: Jeffrey Rayport, Carrie L. Ardito, Dickson L. Louie
Swot Analysis of "E! Online (A): www.eonline.com" written by Jeffrey Rayport, Carrie L. Ardito, Dickson L. Louie includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Entertainment Online facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, IT, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the E! Online (A): www.eonline.com casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of E! Online (A): www.eonline.com
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Entertainment Online, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Entertainment Online 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Entertainment Online
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 Entertainment Online
Strengths E! Online (A): www.eonline.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Entertainment Online in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Entertainment Online 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Entertainment Online is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Entertainment Online digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Entertainment Online 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.
Learning organization
- Entertainment Online 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 Entertainment Online is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Entertainment Online 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Entertainment Online 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Entertainment Online is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Entertainment Online has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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
– Entertainment Online is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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
– Entertainment Online has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Entertainment Online 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.
Organizational Resilience of Entertainment Online
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Entertainment Online does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses E! Online (A): www.eonline.com | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of E! Online (A): www.eonline.com are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study E! Online (A): www.eonline.com, in the dynamic environment Entertainment Online has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Entertainment Online has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study E! Online (A): www.eonline.com, it seems that the employees of Entertainment Online 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Entertainment Online products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Entertainment Online needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 Entertainment Online 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Entertainment Online is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Entertainment Online needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Entertainment Online to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Entertainment Online 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 - E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Entertainment Online is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Entertainment Online 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Entertainment Online 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jeffrey Rayport, Carrie L. Ardito, Dickson L. Louie suggests that, Entertainment Online 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 Entertainment Online has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities E! Online (A): www.eonline.com | 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Entertainment Online 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, E! Online (A): www.eonline.com, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Entertainment Online can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Entertainment Online can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Entertainment Online 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Entertainment Online 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Entertainment Online can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Entertainment Online 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Entertainment Online to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Entertainment Online 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. Entertainment Online 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Entertainment Online 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Entertainment Online is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Entertainment Online 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Entertainment Online can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Entertainment Online 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 Entertainment Online to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats E! Online (A): www.eonline.com External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com, Entertainment Online 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Entertainment Online 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 Entertainment Online is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Entertainment Online 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Entertainment Online 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.
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 Entertainment Online in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Entertainment Online 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com .
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. Entertainment Online can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Entertainment Online
– 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 Entertainment Online.
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. Entertainment Online 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
– Entertainment Online 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. Entertainment Online can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Entertainment Online business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Entertainment Online 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 E! Online (A): www.eonline.com 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 Entertainment Online needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
