Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business
In mid-2012, after successful years in large public companies and obtaining an MBA, middle daughter Jen, 32, is trying to decide whether the time is right for her to enter her mother and sister's small family business to grow it further. Destira, Inc. was a designer/manufacturer of gymnastics wear for girls, headquartered in California. Donna Levy founded the company in 1990, after years of making leotards for her three daughters, who were competitive youth gymnasts, and getting requests from other parents to make the garments for their own children. In 2005, when Donna's oldest daughter, Jodi, joined Destira, Donna gave her a 50 percent equity stake. Between then and year-end 2011, the pair grew the revenues from $550,000 to $1.06 million, increased the number of outlets carrying the brand, upgraded the internal accounting/operations software, and added an online direct-to-customer retail business. The case shows realistic considerations for the individual, family, and business when evaluating whether or not to commit to join the family enterprise.
Swot Analysis of "Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business" written by John L. Ward, Carol Adler Zsolnay includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Destira Donna facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, 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, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Destira Donna, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Destira Donna 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Destira Donna
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Destira Donna
Strengths Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Destira Donna in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Destira Donna
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Destira Donna does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Destira Donna is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Destira Donna is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Destira Donna has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Destira Donna to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Destira Donna in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Destira Donna 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Destira Donna is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Destira Donna 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 Destira Donna in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Destira Donna has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Destira Donna 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Destira Donna to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Destira Donna to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Destira Donna in the sector have low bargaining power. Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Destira Donna to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Destira Donna is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Destira Donna is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Destira Donna needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Destira Donna to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business HBR case study mentions - Destira Donna 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business, in the dynamic environment Destira Donna has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Destira Donna has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Destira Donna 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.
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 Destira Donna supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Destira Donna vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John L. Ward, Carol Adler Zsolnay suggests that, Destira Donna 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business, it seems that the employees of Destira Donna 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 Destira Donna products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Destira Donna needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Destira Donna has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Destira Donna 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Destira Donna 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.
Opportunities Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business | 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business are -
Manufacturing automation
– Destira Donna can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Destira Donna 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. Destira Donna 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Destira Donna 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 Destira Donna to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Destira Donna in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Destira Donna can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Destira Donna 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Destira Donna to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Destira Donna has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Destira Donna to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business case study. Destira Donna can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Destira Donna 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
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 Destira Donna 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Destira Donna can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Destira Donna 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 Destira Donna to increase its market reach. Destira Donna 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Destira Donna 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.
Threats Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business are -
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 Destira Donna business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Destira Donna 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business .
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. Destira Donna 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.
Increasing wage structure of Destira Donna
– 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 Destira Donna.
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 Destira Donna in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business, Destira Donna may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Destira Donna 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Destira Donna has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Destira Donna needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Environmental challenges
– Destira Donna 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. Destira Donna can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Destira Donna 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Destira Donna 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Is Destira My Destiny? Whether, When, and How to Join One's Small Family Business 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 Destira Donna needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.