Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community
Visualfy is a start-up introducing technology (software and hardware) to help people in the deaf community solve some basic problems in their homes: for example, knowing whether someone is ringing the doorbell, whether the baby is crying or the fire alarm is going off. This case presents the reader with the start-up's situation just a few months before launch. The two founding partners have to make key decisions to ensure the launch's success: What should the device's retail price be? What commercialization channels should they prioritize? How and through what media should they communicate the advantages of their system? And so forth.
Swot Analysis of "Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community" written by Inigo Gallo Martinez, Jose A. Segarra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Visualfy Deaf facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, Strategic planning and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Visualfy Deaf, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Visualfy Deaf
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Visualfy Deaf
Strengths Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Visualfy Deaf in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Visualfy Deaf has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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.
High brand equity
– Visualfy Deaf has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Visualfy Deaf to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Visualfy Deaf to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Visualfy Deaf to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Visualfy Deaf is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Visualfy Deaf in the sector have low bargaining power. Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Visualfy Deaf to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Visualfy Deaf is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Visualfy Deaf in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy Deaf is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Visualfy Deaf 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 Inigo Gallo Martinez, Jose A. Segarra 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Visualfy Deaf is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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.
Weaknesses Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Visualfy Deaf 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Visualfy Deaf 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy Deaf has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Visualfy Deaf is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Visualfy Deaf products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Visualfy Deaf needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Visualfy Deaf 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. Visualfy Deaf 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy Deaf 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community, is just above the industry average. Visualfy Deaf 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Visualfy Deaf is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Visualfy Deaf needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Visualfy Deaf to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Visualfy Deaf 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.
Opportunities Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community | 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Visualfy Deaf 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Visualfy Deaf can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Visualfy Deaf can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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, Visualfy Deaf 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, Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Visualfy Deaf 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy Deaf to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Visualfy Deaf can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Visualfy Deaf is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Visualfy Deaf 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Visualfy Deaf can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Visualfy Deaf 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. Visualfy Deaf 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Visualfy Deaf has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Visualfy Deaf to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community case study. Visualfy Deaf can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Visualfy Deaf 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.
Threats Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Visualfy Deaf 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Visualfy Deaf has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Visualfy Deaf needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy Deaf in the Sales & Marketing 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Visualfy Deaf 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Visualfy Deaf 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Visualfy Deaf 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.
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 Visualfy Deaf business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Visualfy Deaf 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community, Visualfy Deaf may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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. Visualfy Deaf needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy: Improving the Quality of Life of an Invisible Community 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 Visualfy Deaf needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.