The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing
The use of additive manufacturing technologies in different industries has increased substantially during the past years. Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line that enabled mass production of identical products in the 20th century. Currently, additive manufacturing enables and facilitates production of moderate to mass quantities of products that can be customized individually. Additive manufacturing technologies are opening new opportunities in terms of production paradigm and manufacturing possibilities. Manufacturing lead times will be reduced substantially, new designs will have shorter time to market, and customer demand will be met more quickly. This article identifies additive manufacturing implementation challenges, highlights its evolving technologies and trends and their impact on the world of tomorrow, discusses its advantages over traditional manufacturing, explores its impact on the supply chain, and investigates its transformative potential and impact on various industry segments.
Swot Analysis of "The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing" written by Mohsen Attaran includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Additive Manufacturing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions,
wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Additive Manufacturing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Additive Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Additive Manufacturing
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Additive Manufacturing
Strengths The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Additive Manufacturing in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Additive Manufacturing
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Additive Manufacturing does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Additive Manufacturing 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 Technology & Operations industry
– The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Additive Manufacturing to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Additive Manufacturing to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Additive Manufacturing digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Additive Manufacturing 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Additive Manufacturing has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Additive Manufacturing has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Additive Manufacturing 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 Mohsen Attaran 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Additive Manufacturing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Additive Manufacturing is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Additive Manufacturing 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Additive Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Additive Manufacturing is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mohsen Attaran suggests that, Additive Manufacturing 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Additive Manufacturing is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Additive Manufacturing needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Additive Manufacturing to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Additive Manufacturing 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Additive Manufacturing 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Additive Manufacturing 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing, it seems that the employees of Additive Manufacturing 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Additive Manufacturing 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 - The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Additive Manufacturing 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Additive Manufacturing is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing | 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Additive Manufacturing can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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. Additive Manufacturing can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Additive Manufacturing to increase its market reach. Additive Manufacturing 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.
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 Additive Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Additive Manufacturing in the consumer business. Now Additive Manufacturing can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Additive Manufacturing can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Additive Manufacturing can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Additive Manufacturing operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Additive Manufacturing 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Additive Manufacturing can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Additive Manufacturing in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Additive Manufacturing 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Additive Manufacturing is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing are -
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.
Environmental challenges
– Additive Manufacturing 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. Additive Manufacturing can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Additive Manufacturing 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Additive Manufacturing is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Additive Manufacturing.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Additive Manufacturing 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.
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. Additive Manufacturing 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, Additive Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing .
Increasing wage structure of Additive Manufacturing
– 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 Additive Manufacturing.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Additive Manufacturing with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Additive Manufacturing in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Additive Manufacturing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Additive Manufacturing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Additive Manufacturing needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing