Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit
Imitation goods are widely spread throughout the global business world. Shanzhai imitation () represents a type of imitation that mimics the original brand through surface or functional similarities but often provides enhanced or innovative features adapted to local market needs. Although both practitioners and academia have studied and provided solutions to combat counterfeits, solutions for original brand manufacturers to address threats from Shanzhai products are lacking. In this article, we first differentiate Shanzhai products from counterfeits. Using a mixed-method approach that combines interviews and laboratory experiment results, we then identify social, individual, functional, and financial (SIFF) factors as driving forces behind consumers' purchasing of Shanzhai products. Shanzhai buyers place more weight on functional value and price/quality ratio than do counterfeit buyers, who in turn favor social value and materialism more than Shanzhai buyers. Finally, we provide several recommendations to original manufacturers from both the demand and supply sides.
Authors :: Yao Qin, Linda Hui Shi, Lei Song, Barbara Stottinger
Swot Analysis of "Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit" written by Yao Qin, Linda Hui Shi, Lei Song, Barbara Stottinger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shanzhai Imitation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shanzhai Imitation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shanzhai Imitation 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shanzhai Imitation
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 Shanzhai Imitation
Strengths Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shanzhai Imitation in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Organizational Resilience of Shanzhai Imitation
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Shanzhai Imitation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Shanzhai Imitation is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Shanzhai Imitation in the sector have low bargaining power. Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Shanzhai Imitation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Shanzhai Imitation is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shanzhai Imitation 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Shanzhai Imitation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Shanzhai Imitation 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Shanzhai Imitation 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 Shanzhai Imitation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shanzhai Imitation is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Shanzhai Imitation 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shanzhai Imitation in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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.
Weaknesses Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit are -
Need for greater diversity
– Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Shanzhai Imitation 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Shanzhai Imitation, firm in the HBR case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit, in the dynamic environment Shanzhai Imitation has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shanzhai Imitation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit, is just above the industry average. Shanzhai Imitation 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yao Qin, Linda Hui Shi, Lei Song, Barbara Stottinger suggests that, Shanzhai Imitation 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Shanzhai Imitation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shanzhai Imitation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Shanzhai Imitation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shanzhai Imitation to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shanzhai Imitation is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit | 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit are -
Buying journey improvements
– Shanzhai Imitation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shanzhai Imitation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Shanzhai Imitation to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit case study. Shanzhai Imitation 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 Shanzhai Imitation 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 Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shanzhai Imitation 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shanzhai Imitation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shanzhai Imitation 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 Shanzhai Imitation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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 Shanzhai Imitation in the consumer business. Now Shanzhai Imitation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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. Shanzhai Imitation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shanzhai Imitation to increase its market reach. Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Shanzhai Imitation 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, Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit are -
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 Shanzhai Imitation.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit, Shanzhai Imitation 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 .
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 Shanzhai Imitation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Shanzhai Imitation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Shanzhai Imitation
– 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 Shanzhai Imitation.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Shanzhai Imitation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shanzhai Imitation 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shanzhai Imitation is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Shanzhai Imitation 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. Shanzhai Imitation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Shanzhai Imitation in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shanzhai Imitation can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Shanzhai Imitation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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