West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management
In January 2003, West Marine (the nation's largest boating supply retailer) was on the verge of acquiring its biggest competitor, BoatU.S. Several years earlier, the company had acquired E&B Marine, another boating supply company of a similar size. However, that transaction proved to be too much for the organization to bear. Having nearly doubled its number of stores overnight, West Marine's systems and processes, as well as the experience level of its management team, could not withstand the rapid growth. West Marine's supply chain was especially hard-hit: The company was unable to keep all 72 West Marine and 63 E&B Marine stores amply stocked during the critical peak season. Following the E&B Marine transaction, the company charted a new course, bringing in a deeply experienced management team, initiating a significant cultural change, and repairing systems and processes across the company. On the eve of another major acquisition, West Marine was proud of all that the company had accomplished through its collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment program, particularly in the supply chain arena. As the company prepared to ramp up its growth engine again on its way to becoming a $1 billion business, West Marine's executive team wondered what "soft spots" might be discovered within its new and improved infrastructure.
Swot Analysis of "West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management" written by Hau Lee, Lyn Denend includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Marine West facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, International business, Mergers & acquisitions, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Marine West, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Marine West
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 Marine West
Strengths West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Marine West in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Marine West is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Marine West is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Marine West has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Marine West to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Marine West 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 Marine West in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Marine West 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 Marine West is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Marine West 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Marine West has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Marine West 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.
Analytics focus
– Marine West 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, Lyn Denend 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Marine West is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 Marine West
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Marine West does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 Marine West 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Marine West 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Marine West 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, Marine West 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Marine West, firm in the HBR case study West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management, 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 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 Marine West supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Marine West vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Marine West has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hau Lee, Lyn Denend suggests that, Marine West 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Marine West has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Marine West even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management, it seems that the employees of Marine West 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.
Opportunities West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management | 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Marine West 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Marine West 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Marine West 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Marine West 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Marine West can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Marine West 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. Marine West 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Marine West to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Marine West is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Marine West can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Marine West 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, West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Marine West 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.
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 Marine West in the consumer business. Now Marine West can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Marine West can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Marine West operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Threats West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management are -
Environmental challenges
– Marine West 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. Marine West can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management, Marine West 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Marine West 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Marine West 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Marine West 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Marine West has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Marine West 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Marine West with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Marine West business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Marine West
– 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 Marine West.
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 Marine West.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 West Marine: Driving Growth Through Shipshape Supply Chain Management 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 Marine West needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.