Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A)
Despite great popular support and an exciting early career in car racing, Justin Wilson was unable to secure sponsorship to pay for his Formula One career. Recently, the Minardi Formula One team had signed him on, but Wilson was required to bring a personal budget of $2.5 million with him to pay for his ride in the 16-race 2003 season. During the Australian Grand Prix, Justin unveiled an innovative scheme to let investors and racing fans buy shares in a company (Justin Wilson plc), set up with his manager Jonathan Palmer, as a way to raise the $2 million he still needed. Shares in Justin Wilson plc were offered to the public for 1 British pound per share. The company would have the rights to all future income from Justin's Formula One career for a period of 10 years; after investors doubled their initial investment and were paid out, they would receive 10% of that income. Was this an interesting security to own? A 2004 EFMD winner.
Swot Analysis of "Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A)" written by Benoit Leleux, Katrin Siebenburger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Justin Wilson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, IPO and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Justin Wilson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Justin Wilson
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Justin Wilson
Strengths Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Justin Wilson in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Justin Wilson is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Justin Wilson to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Justin Wilson to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Justin Wilson is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Justin Wilson is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Justin Wilson
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Justin Wilson does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Justin Wilson 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.
Training and development
– Justin Wilson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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
– Justin Wilson has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Justin Wilson to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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.
Learning organization
- Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Justin Wilson 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 Benoit Leleux, Katrin Siebenburger 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.
Weaknesses Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A), in the dynamic environment Justin Wilson has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Justin Wilson has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A), it seems that the employees of Justin Wilson 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Justin Wilson is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Justin Wilson 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. Justin Wilson 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Justin Wilson 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 - Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Justin Wilson, firm in the HBR case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Justin Wilson 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Justin Wilson 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Justin Wilson 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, Justin Wilson is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) | 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Justin Wilson can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Justin Wilson 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Justin Wilson to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Justin Wilson is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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.
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. Justin Wilson can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Justin Wilson can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Justin Wilson operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Justin Wilson 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Justin Wilson 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, Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Justin Wilson can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Justin Wilson 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Justin Wilson 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Justin Wilson 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Justin Wilson can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) are -
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 Justin Wilson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Justin Wilson can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Justin Wilson with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Justin Wilson 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A), Justin Wilson may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Regulatory challenges
– Justin Wilson 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Justin Wilson 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 Justin Wilson
– 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 Justin Wilson.
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 Justin Wilson.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Justin Wilson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Justin Wilson needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Justin Wilson in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Justin Wilson 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson plc: Financing a Formula One Rising Star (A) 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 Justin Wilson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
