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The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

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.

Authors :: Mohsen Attaran

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Product development, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

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 - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc



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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 -

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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Additive Manufacturing in the sector have low bargaining power. The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Additive Manufacturing to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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.

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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Additive Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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.

Learning organization

- Additive Manufacturing 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 Additive Manufacturing is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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.

Training and development

– Additive Manufacturing has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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.

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.

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.

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.






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 -

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.

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.

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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Additive Manufacturing products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Additive Manufacturing needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Additive Manufacturing is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing, is just above the industry average. Additive Manufacturing needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

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 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 Additive Manufacturing supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Additive Manufacturing vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Additive Manufacturing 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, Additive Manufacturing 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. Additive Manufacturing 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.




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 -

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.

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Additive Manufacturing can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Additive Manufacturing 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. Additive Manufacturing 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.

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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Additive Manufacturing can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Additive Manufacturing 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 The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Additive Manufacturing to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Additive Manufacturing 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.

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.




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 -

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.

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.

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. Additive Manufacturing needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Additive Manufacturing 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Rise of 3-D Printing: The Advantages of Additive Manufacturing Over Traditional Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Additive Manufacturing 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 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.



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