Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords
The case highlights a digital advertising campaign of a mobile app in India named "Highway Delite" using Google AdWords. The case provides the results of a 3-week AdWords campaign with 4-sub-campaigns (Brand Awareness, Enroute Conveniences, Highway Safety, and Offbeat Attractions). CPC and CTR computations are examined to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign in achieving Highway Delite's campaign goals. The case also emphasizes the challenges of brand building that extends beyond a short-term ad campaign.
Swot Analysis of "Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords" written by Preeti Krishnan Lyndem, Dhrithi Mahadevan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Highway Adwords facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Highway Adwords, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Highway Adwords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Highway Adwords
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 Highway Adwords
Strengths Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Highway Adwords in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Highway Adwords 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Highway Adwords 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 Highway Adwords in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Highway Adwords in the sector have low bargaining power. Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Highway Adwords to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Highway Adwords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Highway Adwords 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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.
Training and development
– Highway Adwords has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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.
High brand equity
– Highway Adwords has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Highway Adwords to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Highway Adwords in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Highway Adwords is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Highway Adwords 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 Highway Adwords is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Highway Adwords
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Highway Adwords does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords are -
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Highway Adwords supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Highway Adwords vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Highway Adwords is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Highway Adwords 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 - Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Preeti Krishnan Lyndem, Dhrithi Mahadevan suggests that, Highway Adwords 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Highway Adwords products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Highway Adwords needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords HBR case study mentions - Highway Adwords 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Highway Adwords is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords, is just above the industry average. Highway Adwords 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Highway Adwords 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Highway Adwords 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords, it seems that the employees of Highway Adwords 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.
Opportunities Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords | 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords are -
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. Highway Adwords 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. Highway Adwords 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Highway Adwords to increase its market reach. Highway Adwords 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.
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 Highway Adwords 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Highway Adwords is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Highway Adwords can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Highway Adwords 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Highway Adwords can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Highway Adwords 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Highway Adwords 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Highway Adwords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Highway Adwords to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Highway Adwords in the consumer business. Now Highway Adwords can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Highway Adwords 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.
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. Highway Adwords can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords are -
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. Highway Adwords 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Highway Adwords with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Highway Adwords 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.
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 Highway Adwords.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Highway Adwords has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Highway Adwords 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Highway Adwords can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Highway Adwords 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.
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 Highway Adwords in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Highway Adwords needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Highway Adwords 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.
Increasing wage structure of Highway Adwords
– 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 Highway Adwords.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Highway Adwords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Delite: Mobile App Brand Building Using Google AdWords 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 Highway Adwords needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.