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 - – increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, 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 -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shanzhai Imitation to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shanzhai Imitation to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
Analytics focus
– Shanzhai Imitation 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 Yao Qin, Linda Hui Shi, Lei Song, Barbara Stottinger 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.
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.
Training and development
– Shanzhai Imitation has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Shanzhai Imitation are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Shanzhai Imitation is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Shanzhai Imitation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Shanzhai Imitation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Shanzhai Imitation 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 - Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit, it seems that the employees of Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Shanzhai Imitation 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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 Shanzhai Imitation 's lucrative customers.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit HBR case study mentions - Shanzhai Imitation 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 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shanzhai Imitation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shanzhai Imitation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shanzhai Imitation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Shanzhai Imitation 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. Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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. Shanzhai Imitation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shanzhai Imitation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit 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.
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.
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 -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shanzhai Imitation 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 Integrating Consumers' Motives with Suppliers' Solutions to Combat Shanzhai: A Phenomenon Beyond Counterfeit .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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.
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 .
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.
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. Shanzhai Imitation 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.
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.
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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