Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Communication
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information
Students engage in a high-stakes seed stage investment negotiation between Empire Ventures, a leading venture capital firm, and Rebel Technologies, a cutting-edge virtual reality game developer. The parties must quickly hash out the size of the investment, board composition, founder vesting provisions and other issues or risk falling behind in a fast-moving marketplace. This document contains general information and confidential information and instructions for Rebel Technologies.
Authors :: Scott Lenet, Laju Obasaju, Selina Troesch
Swot Analysis of "Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information" written by Scott Lenet, Laju Obasaju, Selina Troesch includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rebel Seed facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Venture capital and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rebel Seed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rebel Seed
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Rebel Seed
Strengths Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rebel Seed in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rebel Seed is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information - 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 Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rebel Seed digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rebel Seed 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 Communication field
– Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Seed in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rebel Seed in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Rebel Seed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rebel Seed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Rebel Seed has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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
– Rebel Seed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rebel Seed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rebel Seed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Rebel Seed
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rebel Seed does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Seed has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Rebel Seed 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information HBR case study mentions - Rebel Seed 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Rebel Seed products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Rebel Seed needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Seed 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Rebel Seed is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Rebel Seed needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rebel Seed to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rebel Seed 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Scott Lenet, Laju Obasaju, Selina Troesch suggests that, Rebel Seed 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Rebel Seed 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Rebel Seed 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 - Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rebel Seed 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.
Opportunities Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information | 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Rebel Seed has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Rebel Seed to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information case study. Rebel Seed can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rebel Seed can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rebel Seed operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rebel Seed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Rebel Seed can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
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 Rebel Seed 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Seed to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Rebel Seed 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Rebel Seed can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rebel Seed to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
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 Rebel Seed in the consumer business. Now Rebel Seed can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Rebel Seed can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rebel Seed can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rebel Seed to increase its market reach. Rebel Seed 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.
Threats Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Rebel Seed 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Rebel Seed can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Rebel Seed 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 Communication industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Rebel Seed
– 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 Rebel Seed.
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 Rebel Seed in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rebel Seed is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rebel Seed 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information .
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. Rebel Seed needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rebel Seed has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rebel Seed needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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.
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 Rebel Seed business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information, Rebel Seed may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rebel Seed 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Technologies Series Seed Negotiation: Rebel Information 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 Rebel Seed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
