The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness
StockX is the world's first "stock market of things", a consumer marketplace for high-demand, limited edition products that operates exactly like the stock market. The underlying concept is to allow participants to buy and sell authenticated products in a live marketplace where they trade anonymously (with stock market-like visibility). The StockX exchange offers buyers and sellers historical price and volume metrics, real-time bids and offers (asks), time-stamped trades, individualized portfolio tracking and metrics, as well as in-depth market analysis and news. A partnership with Eminem, a native of Detroit, got StockX off the ground by creating exclusive content and access to rare sneakers from the rapper's personal collection. To build on this momentum, StockX needs to develop a growth strategy.
Swot Analysis of "The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness" written by David A. Soberman, Markus Christen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stockx Stock facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness casestudy better are - – 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, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stockx Stock, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stockx Stock 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stockx Stock
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 Stockx Stock
Strengths The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stockx Stock in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Stockx Stock 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stockx Stock 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.
Learning organization
- Stockx Stock 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 Stockx Stock is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Stockx Stock is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Stockx Stock
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stockx Stock does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stockx Stock in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Stockx Stock has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Stockx Stock 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.
High brand equity
– Stockx Stock has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stockx Stock to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Stockx Stock digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Stockx Stock 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stockx Stock is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stockx Stock is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Stockx Stock 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.
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 Stockx Stock supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stockx Stock vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Stockx Stock 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 Stockx Stock 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stockx Stock 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness HBR case study mentions - Stockx Stock 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 Stockx Stock has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Stockx Stock is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David A. Soberman, Markus Christen suggests that, Stockx Stock 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Stockx Stock 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 - The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness | 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stockx Stock 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.
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 Stockx Stock 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Stockx Stock can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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.
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 Stockx Stock in the consumer business. Now Stockx Stock can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stockx Stock 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Stockx Stock 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, The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stockx Stock is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Stockx Stock 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Stockx Stock 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Stockx Stock 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.
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. Stockx Stock can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stockx Stock 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 Stockx Stock to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Stockx Stock has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Stockx Stock to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness case study. Stockx Stock can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness are -
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness, Stockx Stock 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 .
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. Stockx Stock needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Stockx Stock 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.
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 Stockx Stock in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Stockx Stock
– 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 Stockx Stock.
Environmental challenges
– Stockx Stock 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. Stockx Stock can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stockx Stock 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.
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. Stockx Stock 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.
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 Stockx Stock.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stockx Stock 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.
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. Stockx Stock can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Stockx Stock business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 The Story of StockX: Scaling a Digital Business to Greatness 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 Stockx Stock needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.