Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand
In early 2016, the country head for Seijing Motor Corporation (SMC) in India was worried about stagnant sales of the company's Supreme pickup brand. The Supreme brand had gained only a single-digit market share over the past year, and SMC's share of the growing large pickup market had steadily fallen, from 40 per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent in 2015. SMC's Supreme brand was competing with the market leader in the pickup segment. The pickup needed to be repositioned immediately so that it appealed to customers; otherwise, its market share would erode even further. Should the company fight existing consumer perceptions or leverage them? Should the Supreme brand be repositioned, or should SMC offer new brands in other segments? Should it extend the Supreme brand name into those other segments, or should it introduce new brand names? Ashita Aggarwal is affiliated with SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.
Authors :: Ashita Aggarwal Sharma, Shriram Iyer, Projesh Kar
Swot Analysis of "Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand" written by Ashita Aggarwal Sharma, Shriram Iyer, Projesh Kar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pickup Supreme facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pickup Supreme, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pickup Supreme 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pickup Supreme
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 Pickup Supreme
Strengths Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pickup Supreme in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Pickup Supreme
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pickup Supreme does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Pickup Supreme is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pickup Supreme digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pickup Supreme has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Pickup Supreme is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pickup Supreme to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pickup Supreme to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pickup Supreme 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Pickup Supreme has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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
– Pickup Supreme 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 Ashita Aggarwal Sharma, Shriram Iyer, Projesh Kar 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pickup Supreme in the sector have low bargaining power. Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pickup Supreme to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pickup Supreme has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pickup Supreme 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pickup Supreme is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Pickup Supreme 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 Pickup Supreme in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pickup Supreme is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pickup Supreme is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Pickup Supreme needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pickup Supreme to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand HBR case study mentions - Pickup Supreme 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Pickup Supreme 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand, is just above the industry average. Pickup Supreme 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pickup Supreme 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pickup Supreme is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Pickup Supreme 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand, it seems that the employees of Pickup Supreme 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pickup Supreme products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pickup Supreme needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand | 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand are -
Buying journey improvements
– Pickup Supreme can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pickup Supreme is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pickup Supreme can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pickup Supreme in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Pickup Supreme 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 Pickup Supreme has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pickup Supreme to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand case study. Pickup Supreme can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Pickup Supreme can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pickup Supreme 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 Pickup Supreme to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pickup Supreme 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Pickup Supreme can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pickup Supreme 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pickup Supreme to increase its market reach. Pickup Supreme 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pickup Supreme can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Threats Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand are -
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 Pickup Supreme in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Pickup Supreme can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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. Pickup Supreme needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Pickup Supreme
– 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 Pickup Supreme.
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 Pickup Supreme.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pickup Supreme is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Pickup Supreme 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand, Pickup Supreme 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pickup Supreme 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand .
Regulatory challenges
– Pickup Supreme 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pickup Supreme has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pickup Supreme needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Seijing Motor Corporation: Reposition or Extend the Pickup Brand 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 Pickup Supreme needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
