Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged)
In mid 2010 the Sealed Air Corporation has to decide on next steps for its novel video tracking technology (called VTID) after unsuccessful attempts to market it in three different industry settings. The company must determine whether its most recent target market, the quick-serve restaurant segment, is still worth pursuing or whether the company should look for a different application and market altogether. The company could also revisit the previous two applications, tracking and tracing processed meat and tracking employee safety practices. At the other extreme, after seven years of R&D and marketing efforts and millions of dollars in expenses, the company could cease attempts to commercialize VTID.
Swot Analysis of "Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged)" written by Elie Ofek includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vtid Tracking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Innovation, Strategy execution, Supply chain and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vtid Tracking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vtid Tracking 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vtid Tracking
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 Vtid Tracking
Strengths Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vtid Tracking in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Vtid Tracking 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 Vtid Tracking
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Vtid Tracking does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vtid Tracking to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vtid Tracking to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vtid Tracking 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Vtid Tracking is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Vtid Tracking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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
– Vtid Tracking has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Vtid Tracking to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Vtid Tracking is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vtid Tracking has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vtid Tracking 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.
Analytics focus
– Vtid Tracking 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 Elie Ofek 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.
Training and development
– Vtid Tracking has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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.
Weaknesses Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Vtid Tracking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) HBR case study mentions - Vtid Tracking 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged), is just above the industry average. Vtid Tracking 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Vtid Tracking products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Vtid Tracking needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Vtid Tracking 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged), it seems that the employees of Vtid Tracking 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Vtid Tracking 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 - Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vtid Tracking, firm in the HBR case study Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged), in the dynamic environment Vtid Tracking has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Vtid Tracking has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Vtid Tracking 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Vtid Tracking 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) | 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vtid Tracking 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vtid Tracking can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vtid Tracking can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vtid Tracking operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Vtid Tracking 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 Vtid Tracking to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Vtid Tracking 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Vtid Tracking 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Vtid Tracking to increase its market reach. Vtid Tracking 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Vtid Tracking is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Vtid Tracking in the consumer business. Now Vtid Tracking can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vtid Tracking has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Vtid Tracking to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) case study. Vtid Tracking can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Vtid Tracking can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Vtid Tracking can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Vtid Tracking 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. Vtid Tracking 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.
Threats Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vtid Tracking has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vtid Tracking 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged), Vtid Tracking 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vtid Tracking is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Vtid Tracking with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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. Vtid Tracking needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Vtid Tracking can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Vtid Tracking 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Vtid Tracking 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.
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 Vtid Tracking in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Vtid Tracking.
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 Vtid Tracking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vtid Tracking 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged) 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 Vtid Tracking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
