This case focuses on what an entrepreneur who has developed and marketed a soccer board game (KickShot), should do next. The case lays out the approach of the entrepreneur, who at age 59 had considerable previous experience with tech startups, and highlights some of the challenges faced. The focal point of the case is for students to recommend future courses of actions. Specifically, should the entrepreneur continue to market the game in hopes of increasing sales and profitability or should he accept one of the two buyout offers in front of him? Students will need to link these recommended actions to the entrepreneurs' goals and objectives, including his personality. Within this context, the case highlights the need for an entrepreneur to have an exit, or harvest strategy from the very start. Given that the entrepreneur has realized his initial exit strategy by having before him two buyout offers, the case allows students to evaluate two distinct exit strategies that in many ways mirror those common for any startup, a pure cash buyout versus an offer with a smaller amount up front but a royalty on future sales. Finally, the case provides an opportunity for students to wrestle with the margin structure of online retailing via Amazon.com.
Swot Analysis of "KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL!" written by Michael McCollough includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Entrepreneur Kickshot facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL!
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Entrepreneur Kickshot, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Entrepreneur Kickshot
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Entrepreneur Kickshot
Strengths KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Entrepreneur Kickshot in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Entrepreneur Kickshot is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Entrepreneur Kickshot in the sector have low bargaining power. KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Entrepreneur Kickshot to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Entrepreneur Kickshot digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Entrepreneur Kickshot does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Entrepreneur Kickshot is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Entrepreneur Kickshot has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Entrepreneur Kickshot to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Entrepreneur Kickshot to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL!, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL!, is just above the industry average. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! HBR case study mentions - Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Entrepreneur Kickshot is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Entrepreneur Kickshot needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Entrepreneur Kickshot to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Entrepreneur Kickshot has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Entrepreneur Kickshot even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Entrepreneur Kickshot is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! | 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Entrepreneur Kickshot can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Entrepreneur Kickshot operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Entrepreneur Kickshot can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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, Entrepreneur Kickshot 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, KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL!, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Entrepreneur Kickshot can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Entrepreneur Kickshot to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot to increase its market reach. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Entrepreneur Kickshot has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Entrepreneur Kickshot to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! case study. Entrepreneur Kickshot can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Threats KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Entrepreneur Kickshot in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Entrepreneur Kickshot can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Entrepreneur Kickshot with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Entrepreneur Kickshot needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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. Entrepreneur Kickshot can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Entrepreneur Kickshot in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
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. Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Entrepreneur Kickshot 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 KickShot: GOOOOOOOOOAL! 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 Entrepreneur Kickshot needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
