Lessons from China's Digital Battleground SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lessons from China's Digital Battleground
The dramatic rise of China's digital leaders has put the squeeze on Western internet giants. Western players must learn quickly if they are to get back in the game in the world's fastest growing digital market.
Authors :: Martin Reeves, Shu Li, Francois Candelon
Swot Analysis of "Lessons from China's Digital Battleground" written by Martin Reeves, Shu Li, Francois Candelon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Digital Battleground facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Social platforms and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lessons from China's Digital Battleground casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lessons from China's Digital Battleground
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Digital Battleground, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Digital Battleground
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 Digital Battleground
Strengths Lessons from China's Digital Battleground | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Digital Battleground in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Digital Battleground
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Digital Battleground does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Digital Battleground has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Digital Battleground to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground - 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 Technology & Operations industry
– Lessons from China's Digital Battleground firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Digital Battleground to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Digital Battleground to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Digital Battleground 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 Digital Battleground in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Digital Battleground in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Digital Battleground has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Digital Battleground has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Digital Battleground 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Digital Battleground is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lessons from China's Digital Battleground Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Digital Battleground 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 Martin Reeves, Shu Li, Francois Candelon 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Lessons from China's Digital Battleground | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lessons from China's Digital Battleground are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, it seems that the employees of Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Digital Battleground 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Digital Battleground 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.
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 Digital Battleground supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Digital Battleground vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Digital Battleground is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Lessons from China's Digital Battleground can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Digital Battleground 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Digital Battleground 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Digital Battleground is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Digital Battleground needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Digital Battleground to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, in the dynamic environment Digital Battleground has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Digital Battleground has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Lessons from China's Digital Battleground | 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Digital Battleground to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Digital Battleground can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Digital Battleground has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Digital Battleground to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lessons from China's Digital Battleground case study. Digital Battleground can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Digital Battleground can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Digital Battleground to increase its market reach. Digital Battleground 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Digital Battleground can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Digital Battleground operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Digital Battleground 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Digital Battleground 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, Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, 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 Digital Battleground can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
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 Digital Battleground in the consumer business. Now Digital Battleground can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Digital Battleground can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Digital Battleground 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 Digital Battleground to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Digital Battleground is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lessons from China's Digital Battleground case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Lessons from China's Digital Battleground External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lessons from China's Digital Battleground are -
Environmental challenges
– Digital Battleground 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. Digital Battleground can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Digital Battleground.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lessons from China's Digital Battleground, Digital Battleground 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Digital Battleground
– 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 Digital Battleground.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Digital Battleground can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Digital Battleground in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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. Digital Battleground needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Digital Battleground is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Digital Battleground 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Digital Battleground 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.
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. Digital Battleground 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Digital Battleground 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
– Digital Battleground has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Digital Battleground needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Lessons from China's Digital Battleground 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 Digital Battleground needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.