Case Study Description of RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market
In early July 2017, the shareholders of RollUP Solutions Incorporated (RollUP), a social enterprise in London, Ontario, had just received great news about a partnership with Goodwill Industries International Inc. that would result in process efficiencies and business growth for RollUP. RollUP collected used mobility devices from long-term care homes, upcycled the devices, and sold them to consumers at discounted prices. Before launching their online sales channel and implementing their new sourcing and upcycling process, the shareholders needed to make key marketing decisions such as selecting a target market, price, and promotional methods.
Swot Analysis of "RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market" written by Ian Dunn, Eleni Petrou includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rollup Incorporated facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rollup Incorporated, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rollup Incorporated
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 Rollup Incorporated
Strengths RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rollup Incorporated in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Rollup Incorporated 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 Rollup Incorporated is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Rollup Incorporated 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Rollup Incorporated is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Rollup Incorporated 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 Ian Dunn, Eleni Petrou 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Rollup Incorporated has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rollup Incorporated 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rollup Incorporated in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rollup Incorporated 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Rollup Incorporated is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Rollup Incorporated in the sector have low bargaining power. RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rollup Incorporated to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 Rollup Incorporated has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rollup Incorporated 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rollup Incorporated 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rollup Incorporated is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Rollup Incorporated products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Rollup Incorporated needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market, is just above the industry average. Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market, it seems that the employees of Rollup Incorporated 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 Rollup Incorporated 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ian Dunn, Eleni Petrou suggests that, Rollup Incorporated 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, Rollup Incorporated 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Rollup Incorporated has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Opportunities RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market | 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market are -
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. Rollup Incorporated 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
– Rollup Incorporated 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Rollup Incorporated 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Rollup Incorporated 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, RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rollup Incorporated to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rollup Incorporated can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rollup Incorporated operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Rollup Incorporated 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. Rollup Incorporated 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.
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. Rollup Incorporated 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 Rollup Incorporated to increase its market reach. Rollup Incorporated 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.
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 Rollup Incorporated in the consumer business. Now Rollup Incorporated can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Rollup Incorporated can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rollup Incorporated 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Rollup Incorporated has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rollup Incorporated to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market case study. Rollup Incorporated can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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. Rollup Incorporated needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Rollup Incorporated business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market, Rollup Incorporated 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rollup Incorporated 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rollup Incorporated in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Rollup Incorporated 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.
Increasing wage structure of Rollup Incorporated
– 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 Rollup Incorporated.
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 Rollup Incorporated.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rollup Incorporated 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rollup Incorporated 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market .
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. Rollup Incorporated 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Rollup Incorporated can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 RollUP Solutions Incorporated: Going to Market 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 Rollup Incorporated needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
