Case Study Description of Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures
In early 2017, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Raintree Resorts International, Inc. was contemplating the next moves for the timeshare company he had founded in 1997. He and his team had focused their attention on creating and developing properties in the world's top destinations. The CEO felt privileged to have built the best vacation destinations for people, but the company was at a turning point. He was intrigued by disrupters in the broader industry of hospitality, such as Airbnb (the largest provider of rooms without hotel ownership) and Uber (the US$66 billion company that provided rides but did not own a single taxi). Should the CEO grow his company's existing properties, develop new ones, or do something else entirely? Gary Carini is affiliated with Baylor University.
Swot Analysis of "Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures" written by Gary Carini, Douglas Y. Bech includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Raintree Destinations facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Raintree Destinations, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Raintree Destinations
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Raintree Destinations
Strengths Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Raintree Destinations in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Raintree Destinations 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures - 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
- Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Destinations is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Raintree Destinations to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Raintree Destinations to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Raintree Destinations has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Raintree Destinations 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Raintree Destinations 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.
Organizational Resilience of Raintree Destinations
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Raintree Destinations does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Raintree Destinations has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Raintree Destinations to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Raintree Destinations is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Destinations in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Raintree Destinations has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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.
Analytics focus
– Raintree Destinations 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 Gary Carini, Douglas Y. Bech 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.
Weaknesses Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Raintree Destinations 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures, it seems that the employees of Raintree Destinations 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gary Carini, Douglas Y. Bech suggests that, Raintree Destinations 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, Raintree Destinations is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Destinations 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures HBR case study mentions - Raintree Destinations takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
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 Raintree Destinations supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Raintree Destinations vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Raintree Destinations is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Raintree Destinations needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Raintree Destinations to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Raintree Destinations 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 - Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Raintree Destinations 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. Raintree Destinations 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Raintree Destinations 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.
Opportunities Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures | 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures are -
Buying journey improvements
– Raintree Destinations can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Raintree Destinations 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 Organizational Development segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Raintree Destinations 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 Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Raintree Destinations can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Raintree Destinations can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Raintree Destinations to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Raintree Destinations in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Destinations to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Raintree Destinations is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Destinations 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Raintree Destinations can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, 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 Raintree Destinations 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Raintree Destinations can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Raintree Destinations operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Threats Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Raintree Destinations 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures .
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 Raintree Destinations business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Raintree Destinations can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Raintree Destinations 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.
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 Raintree Destinations in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Raintree Destinations 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.
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.
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 Raintree Destinations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Raintree Destinations has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Raintree Destinations needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Raintree Destinations
– 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 Raintree Destinations.
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. Raintree Destinations needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Raintree Destinations 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Raintree Destinations 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Resorts International: Envisioning Unique Adventures 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 Raintree Destinations needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
