Case Study Description of ClickDishes: Serving New Cities
It was early November 2017, and the chief executive officer of ClickDishes Inc. (ClickDishes), an Alberta-based food service application company, needed to consider the strategic direction of his start-up. ClickDishes had a unique value proposition and very few competitors worldwide. Its chief executive officer wanted to enter a number of new markets very quickly in order to capitalize on his company's first-mover advantage and establish the ClickDishes brand name as the default solution for in-restaurant ordering. However, his desire for growth was checked by his apprehension that rapid expansion would overextend the company's limited resources, and the knowledge that poor execution in one new city could be devastating to further growth. He had to develop a market expansion plan that suited ClickDishes' resources and capabilities but was also aggressive enough to place the firm in a dominant position against new entrants in its industry. William Wei and Etayankara Muralidharan are affiliated with MacEwan University. Lei Jin is affiliated with China University of Petroleum Beijing.
Authors :: William Wei, Lei Jin, Etayankara Muralidharan
Swot Analysis of "ClickDishes: Serving New Cities" written by William Wei, Lei Jin, Etayankara Muralidharan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clickdishes Etayankara facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Technology and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ClickDishes: Serving New Cities casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ClickDishes: Serving New Cities
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clickdishes Etayankara, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clickdishes Etayankara 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clickdishes Etayankara
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 Clickdishes Etayankara
Strengths ClickDishes: Serving New Cities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clickdishes Etayankara in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Clickdishes Etayankara in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Clickdishes Etayankara has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Clickdishes Etayankara in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Clickdishes Etayankara is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Clickdishes Etayankara in the sector have low bargaining power. ClickDishes: Serving New Cities has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Clickdishes Etayankara to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Clickdishes Etayankara digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Organizational Resilience of Clickdishes Etayankara
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Clickdishes Etayankara does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 William Wei, Lei Jin, Etayankara Muralidharan 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.
Learning organization
- Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Clickdishes Etayankara is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ClickDishes: Serving New Cities Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses ClickDishes: Serving New Cities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ClickDishes: Serving New Cities are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Clickdishes Etayankara is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities, it seems that the employees of Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities, is just above the industry average. Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Clickdishes Etayankara is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Clickdishes Etayankara needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Clickdishes Etayankara to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clickdishes Etayankara products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clickdishes Etayankara needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Opportunities ClickDishes: Serving New Cities | 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Clickdishes Etayankara can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Clickdishes Etayankara in the consumer business. Now Clickdishes Etayankara can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clickdishes Etayankara to increase its market reach. Clickdishes Etayankara will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Clickdishes Etayankara can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Clickdishes Etayankara is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Clickdishes Etayankara 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, Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Clickdishes Etayankara can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Clickdishes Etayankara 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, ClickDishes: Serving New Cities, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clickdishes Etayankara 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, Clickdishes Etayankara can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Clickdishes Etayankara to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats ClickDishes: Serving New Cities External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities are -
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. Clickdishes Etayankara can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Clickdishes Etayankara
– 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 Clickdishes Etayankara.
Regulatory challenges
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clickdishes Etayankara has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clickdishes Etayankara is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Clickdishes Etayankara 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.
Environmental challenges
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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. Clickdishes Etayankara can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clickdishes Etayankara 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 Clickdishes Etayankara.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ClickDishes: Serving New Cities, Clickdishes Etayankara 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 .
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 Clickdishes Etayankara in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Clickdishes Etayankara business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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 ClickDishes: Serving New Cities 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 Clickdishes Etayankara needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
