Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?
The business models of digital maker-entrepreneurs in open design are inextricably linked to the broader open design community. Digital makers share designs on online platforms such as Thingiverse and use digital manufacturing technology such as 3-D printing as a generative mechanism for their entrepreneurial activities. There is a general understanding of how sharing works in that community and the basic design parameters that determine the business models of these digital maker-entrepreneurs, which are based on a portfolio of activities. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 11 digital maker-entrepreneurs from the open design community. We investigate the activities that constitute their business models using activity theory as a lens with which better to understand them. This study provides a perspective on the complexity of the relationships in which these activities are embedded and analyzes the activities related to the production, distribution, and consumption of value. Finally, we examine the exchanges between digital maker-entrepreneurs in the community, shedding light on how digital maker-entrepreneurs share and exchange goods, services, and knowledge as peers.
Swot Analysis of "Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?" written by Peter Troxler, Patricia Wolf includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Maker Digital facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, Entrepreneurship and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maker Digital, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maker Digital 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maker Digital
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Maker Digital
Strengths Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maker Digital in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Maker Digital has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Maker Digital to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maker Digital are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Maker Digital 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Maker Digital to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Maker Digital to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Maker Digital 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 Maker Digital in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Maker Digital 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 Peter Troxler, Patricia Wolf 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.
Learning organization
- Maker Digital 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 Maker Digital is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Maker Digital is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Maker Digital is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Maker Digital is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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
– Maker Digital has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maker Digital 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Maker Digital 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Maker Digital is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Maker Digital needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Maker Digital to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Maker Digital, firm in the HBR case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? HBR case study mentions - Maker Digital takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?, it seems that the employees of Maker Digital 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maker Digital is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maker Digital 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 - Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Maker Digital 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Maker Digital 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.
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 Maker Digital supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Maker Digital vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Maker Digital 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Maker Digital products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Maker Digital needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? | 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Maker Digital to increase its market reach. Maker Digital 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maker Digital in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maker Digital 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Maker Digital 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maker Digital 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maker Digital to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Maker Digital in the consumer business. Now Maker Digital 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, Maker Digital can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Maker Digital operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Maker Digital can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maker Digital 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 Maker Digital to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Maker Digital can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Maker Digital to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Maker Digital can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Maker Digital 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.
Threats Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Maker Digital 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maker Digital is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maker Digital 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? .
Environmental challenges
– Maker Digital 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. Maker Digital can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Maker Digital in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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
– Maker Digital has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Maker Digital needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing wage structure of Maker Digital
– 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 Maker Digital.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Maker Digital can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model?, Maker Digital may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Maker Digital business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Maker Digital needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Digital Maker-Entrepreneurs in Open Design: What Activities Make Up Their Business Model? 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 Maker Digital needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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