Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors
On April 1, 2016, fashion house Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) announced the departure of its creative director who had been responsible for successfully reviving the struggling YSL brand since 2012. Three days after this surprising departure, the company announced that its next creative director would be a relatively inexperienced, 36-year-old designer. After decades of leadership turmoil and financial instability at YSL, the incoming creative director was facing increasing pressure from stakeholders to build off the success that his predecessor had achieved. The global luxury fashion industry had become increasingly competitive, with multiple brands competing for the industry's estimated value of a??265 billion in 2017. Had YSL made the right decision in selecting this young director? To help YSL remain one of the top brands in the fashion industry, should the new director implement a strategy that builds upon the successful foundation created by his predecessor, or should he develop new strategies? Wiboon Kittilaksanawong is affiliated with Saitama University. Andrew Jiro Poplawski is affiliated with Nagoya University of Commerce & Business.
Authors :: Wiboon Kittilaksanawong, Leo Guilbert, Andrew Jiro Poplawski
Swot Analysis of "Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors" written by Wiboon Kittilaksanawong, Leo Guilbert, Andrew Jiro Poplawski includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ysl Creative facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Creativity, Leadership, Risk management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ysl Creative, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ysl Creative 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ysl Creative
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ysl Creative
Strengths Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ysl Creative in Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Ysl Creative has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ysl Creative digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ysl Creative 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ysl Creative 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ysl Creative 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ysl Creative in the sector have low bargaining power. Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ysl Creative to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Ysl Creative has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ysl Creative to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ysl Creative has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ysl Creative 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Ysl Creative is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ysl Creative to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ysl Creative to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ysl Creative 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Ysl Creative
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ysl Creative does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ysl Creative 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ysl Creative is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Ysl Creative needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ysl Creative to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors, is just above the industry average. Ysl Creative 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Ysl Creative 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ysl Creative is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors, in the dynamic environment Ysl Creative has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ysl Creative has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ysl Creative 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ysl Creative 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 - Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ysl Creative is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ysl Creative 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.
Opportunities Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors | 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ysl Creative 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ysl Creative to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ysl Creative can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ysl Creative can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Ysl Creative 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.
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 Ysl Creative in the consumer business. Now Ysl Creative 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 Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ysl Creative can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ysl Creative 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ysl Creative in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ysl Creative to increase its market reach. Ysl Creative 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ysl Creative can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ysl Creative 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.
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. Ysl Creative can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ysl Creative is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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.
Threats Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ysl Creative 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors .
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. Ysl Creative 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.
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. Ysl Creative needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Ysl Creative 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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 Ysl Creative business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ysl Creative 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ysl Creative in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ysl Creative is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ysl Creative with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ysl Creative 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.
Environmental challenges
– Ysl Creative 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. Ysl Creative can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ysl Creative has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ysl Creative needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors, Ysl Creative may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Yves Saint Laurent: Strategic Leadership of Creative Directors 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 Ysl Creative needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
