Swot Analysis of "The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B)" written by Matthias Hild includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 3g Licensing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations, Technology and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 3g Licensing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 3g Licensing 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 3g Licensing
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of 3g Licensing
Strengths The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of 3g Licensing in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– 3g Licensing has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 3g Licensing 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 3g Licensing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 3g Licensing to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 3g Licensing to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– 3g Licensing is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 3g Licensing
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 3g Licensing does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– 3g Licensing has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled 3g Licensing to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that 3g Licensing has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– 3g Licensing 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 3g Licensing in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– 3g Licensing 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– 3g Licensing is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- 3g Licensing 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 3g Licensing is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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.
Weaknesses The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of 3g Licensing, firm in the HBR case study The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 3g Licensing supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left 3g Licensing vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) HBR case study mentions - 3g Licensing 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at 3g Licensing 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 The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though 3g Licensing 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 3g Licensing 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of 3g Licensing products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, 3g Licensing needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 3g Licensing is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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, Matthias Hild suggests that, 3g Licensing 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, 3g Licensing 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.
Opportunities The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) | 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for 3g Licensing in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– 3g Licensing can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, 3g Licensing 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B), 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 3g Licensing 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 3g Licensing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of 3g Licensing has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help 3g Licensing to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) case study. 3g Licensing can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for 3g Licensing 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.
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. 3g Licensing can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– 3g Licensing can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– 3g Licensing 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 The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 3g Licensing 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 Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. 3g Licensing 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. 3g Licensing 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.
Buying journey improvements
– 3g Licensing can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help 3g Licensing to increase its market reach. 3g Licensing 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, 3g Licensing 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 The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 3g Licensing with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 3g Licensing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– 3g Licensing 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– 3g Licensing 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. 3g Licensing 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.
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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B), 3g Licensing may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 3g Licensing in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. 3g Licensing can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– 3g Licensing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, 3g Licensing needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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 3g Licensing.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, 3g Licensing 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 The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) .
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. 3g Licensing needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of 3g Licensing
– 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 3g Licensing.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 Biggest Auction Ever: 3G Licensing in Western Europe (B) 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 3g Licensing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.