Swot Analysis of "B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video" written by David B. Yoffie includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Siff Footwear's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Globalization and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Siff Footwear's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Siff Footwear's
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 Siff Footwear's
Strengths B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Siff Footwear's in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Siff Footwear's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Siff Footwear's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Siff Footwear's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Siff Footwear's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Siff Footwear's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Siff Footwear's 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.
High brand equity
– Siff Footwear's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Siff Footwear's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Siff Footwear's 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Siff Footwear's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Siff Footwear's in the sector have low bargaining power. B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Siff Footwear's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Siff Footwear's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Siff Footwear's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Siff Footwear's 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Siff Footwear's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Siff Footwear's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 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 Siff Footwear's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Siff Footwear's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Siff Footwear's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video HBR case study mentions - Siff Footwear's 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Siff Footwear's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Siff Footwear's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Siff Footwear's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Siff Footwear's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Siff Footwear's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 Siff Footwear's 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Siff Footwear's 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. Siff Footwear's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Siff Footwear's 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David B. Yoffie suggests that, Siff Footwear's 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.
Opportunities B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video | 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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, Siff Footwear's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Siff Footwear's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Siff Footwear's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Siff Footwear's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video case study. Siff Footwear's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Siff Footwear's 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 Siff Footwear's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Siff Footwear's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Siff Footwear's 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.
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. Siff Footwear's 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. Siff Footwear's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Siff Footwear's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Siff Footwear's 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 Global Business segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Siff Footwear's 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.
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. Siff Footwear's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Siff Footwear's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Siff Footwear's 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, Siff Footwear's 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, B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Siff Footwear's 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Siff Footwear's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Siff Footwear's 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 Global Business 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 Siff Footwear's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Siff Footwear's 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
– Siff Footwear's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Siff Footwear's 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. Siff Footwear's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Siff Footwear's is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Siff Footwear's.
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. Siff Footwear's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Siff Footwear's 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.
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 Siff Footwear's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Siff Footwear's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 B-W Footwear: Interview with Robert Siff, President, and Lawrence Siff, Video 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 Siff Footwear's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.