Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?
In July 2016, the founder and president of Lockbox Social Inc., an American social media management company for real estate agents, was contemplating whether to offer search engine optimization (SEO) as a new product. He needed to decide whether to pivot his business to pursue SEO exclusively, include SEO with the current product mix, or stay with the status quo and reconsider SEO at a later date. How would the two products-social media management and SEO-meet his customers' needs? Would they provide a good fit with his business and personal goals? He also needed to determine how much to charge for SEO and whether the company's current pricing model was appropriate for social media management.
Swot Analysis of "Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?" written by Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jimmy Wang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Seo Lockbox facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Seo Lockbox, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Seo Lockbox 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Seo Lockbox
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Seo Lockbox
Strengths Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Seo Lockbox in Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Seo Lockbox 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Seo Lockbox digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Seo Lockbox 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Seo Lockbox 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Seo Lockbox 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Seo Lockbox 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 Seo Lockbox is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Seo Lockbox is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Seo Lockbox to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Seo Lockbox to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Seo Lockbox is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Seo Lockbox 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
– Seo Lockbox has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Seo Lockbox 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Seo Lockbox 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 Seo Lockbox in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Seo Lockbox in the sector have low bargaining power. Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Seo Lockbox to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?, it seems that the employees of Seo Lockbox 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Seo Lockbox 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Seo Lockbox 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Seo Lockbox 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Seo Lockbox 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. Seo Lockbox 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Elizabeth M.A. Grasby, Jimmy Wang suggests that, Seo Lockbox 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Seo Lockbox is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Seo Lockbox has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Seo Lockbox supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Seo Lockbox vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Seo Lockbox, firm in the HBR case study Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Seo Lockbox 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.
Opportunities Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? | 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Seo Lockbox can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Seo Lockbox 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. Seo Lockbox can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Seo Lockbox 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. Seo Lockbox 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Seo Lockbox can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Seo Lockbox operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Seo Lockbox 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Seo Lockbox can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Seo Lockbox in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Seo Lockbox 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Seo Lockbox to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Seo Lockbox 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Seo Lockbox 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 Seo Lockbox to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Seo Lockbox can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Seo Lockbox 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, Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? are -
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.
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. Seo Lockbox 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Seo Lockbox with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Seo Lockbox in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Seo Lockbox in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Seo Lockbox 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
– Seo Lockbox 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. Seo Lockbox can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Seo Lockbox 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Seo Lockbox has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Seo Lockbox needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Seo Lockbox 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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 Seo Lockbox.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Seo Lockbox 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Lockbox Social Inc.: Status Quo or SEO? 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 Seo Lockbox needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.