Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets

Brand post popularity positively relates to consumers' purchase intentions, actual sales, and stock prices. Research suggests that social media posts should be vivid, practical, interesting, personalized, and interactive. However, cross-cultural research also suggests that practices might not be equally effective across different regional markets. While vividness and practicality could be consistently important across cultures, characteristics of interest, personalization, and interactivity might need to be adapted to the cultural conditions of specific target markets. We consider how individualism/collectivism, long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and high-context/low-context cultures could influence brand post effectiveness. We provide suggestions for how to manage social media brand post popularity from a cross-cultural perspective to inform both domestic and global social media marketing campaigns. Suggested practices include: (1) making brand posts engaging; (2) targeting the 'I' in individualistic cultures and the 'we' in collectivist cultures; (3) focusing on consumers' identity in less long-term oriented cultures and on functional information in more long-term oriented cultures; (4) ensuring that posts help reduce uncertainty; (5) planning for one-way communication in higher power distance countries and two-way communication in lower power distance countries; and (6) making messages less direct in higher context cultures and more direct in lower context cultures.

Authors :: Hsin-Chen Lin, Hepsi Swarna, Patrick F. Bruning

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Social platforms, Strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets" written by Hsin-Chen Lin, Hepsi Swarna, Patrick F. Bruning includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cultures Posts facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets casestudy better are - – technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, 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, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cultures Posts, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cultures Posts 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cultures Posts
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cultures Posts

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Strengths Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cultures Posts in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field

– Cultures Posts 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 Cultures Posts in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Cultures Posts 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 Hsin-Chen Lin, Hepsi Swarna, Patrick F. Bruning 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.

Training and development

– Cultures Posts has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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

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

Learning organization

- Cultures Posts 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 Cultures Posts is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Cultures Posts is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

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

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Cultures Posts in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cultures Posts 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Cultures Posts is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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

– Cultures Posts has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cultures Posts 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.

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Weaknesses Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets are -

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cultures Posts 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Cultures Posts 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 Cultures Posts 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 - Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets, it seems that the employees of Cultures Posts 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cultures Posts is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hsin-Chen Lin, Hepsi Swarna, Patrick F. Bruning suggests that, Cultures Posts 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Cultures Posts has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Cultures Posts 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cultures Posts is planning to shift buying processes online.

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Opportunities Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets | 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets are -

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cultures Posts can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cultures Posts has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cultures Posts to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets case study. Cultures Posts can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cultures Posts in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Cultures Posts 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Cultures Posts can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Cultures Posts can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cultures Posts can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cultures Posts operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cultures Posts 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. Cultures Posts can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cultures Posts to increase its market reach. Cultures Posts 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cultures Posts is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Cultures Posts 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cultures Posts 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, Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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. Cultures Posts can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets are -

Barriers of entry lowering

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

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cultures Posts 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.

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.

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 Cultures Posts in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Cultures Posts

– 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 Cultures Posts.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Cultures Posts has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cultures Posts needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Cultures Posts 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets, Cultures Posts may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cultures Posts in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.

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. Cultures Posts 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cultures Posts 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets .

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. Cultures Posts needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cultures Posts can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Taking a Global View on Brand Post Popularity: Six Social Media Brand Post Practices for Global Markets 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 Cultures Posts needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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