Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint
Clover Network's founders didn't see the curveball coming at the end of 2012. The two-year-old start-up had just nine employees. It had dumped its first business idea, pivoted from its second, and was working hard on a new product: a tablet-based cash register with built-in credit card processing. Large credit card payment processing companies had started noticing Clover and one had just agreed to pre-order $2 million of Clover hardware. It was Clover's first such deal. But around Thanksgiving, Clover learned that First Data-the card processing industry's 800-pound gorilla-also was interested in Clover's technology. If it could bring First Data on as a customer, Clover would have a pipeline to a huge number of retailers. In early December, one of Clover's founders received a 2?-page letter from First Data. He had expected a proposal to buy and distribute Clover equipment, maybe with a small equity investment. Instead, First Data said it wanted to acquire "no less than 75 percent" of Clover, and close the deal by December 31. Was it time to sell Clover? The case highlights how a start-up decides to respond to an unexpected buyout offer and how it proposes to structure the deal.
Authors :: Julie Makinen, Mike Speiser, Mark Leslie
Swot Analysis of "Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint" written by Julie Makinen, Mike Speiser, Mark Leslie includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clover Clover's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions, Motivating people, Negotiations, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clover Clover's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clover Clover's 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clover Clover's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Clover Clover's
Strengths Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clover Clover's in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Clover Clover's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Clover Clover's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Clover Clover's 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint - 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
– Clover Clover's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Clover Clover's 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clover Clover's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Clover Clover's in the sector have low bargaining power. Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Clover Clover's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Clover Clover's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Clover Clover's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Clover Clover's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Clover Clover's 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 Clover Clover's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clover Clover's 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Clover Clover's 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 Julie Makinen, Mike Speiser, Mark Leslie 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clover Clover's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clover Clover's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Clover Clover's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Clover Clover's 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 - Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Clover Clover's 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover Clover's 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clover Clover's 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Julie Makinen, Mike Speiser, Mark Leslie suggests that, Clover Clover's 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, Clover Clover's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Clover Clover's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clover Clover's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clover Clover's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clover Clover's 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint | 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Clover Clover's 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 Clover Clover's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Clover Clover's 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Clover Clover's 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, Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Clover Clover's in the consumer business. Now Clover Clover's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clover Clover's to increase its market reach. Clover Clover's 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.
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 Clover Clover's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Clover Clover's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
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. Clover Clover's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Clover Clover's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Clover Clover's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint case study. Clover Clover's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Clover Clover's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Clover Clover's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Clover Clover's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clover Clover's 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clover Clover's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clover Clover's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clover Clover's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Clover Clover's
– 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 Clover Clover's.
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 Clover Clover's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clover Clover's 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.
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. Clover Clover's 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clover Clover's is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Clover Clover's in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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. Clover Clover's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Clover Clover's 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.
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 Clover Clover's.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Clover Clover's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover (B): What Was Dean Nelson Thinking? KKR's Viewpoint 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 Clover Clover's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
