Case Study Description of Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition
Georgie Yam arrived in Shanghai in the heat of summer in 2001. He was there on a mission: to develop the market and establish a distribution network for a German hair-care products manufacturer. Soon after he arrived in Shanghai, he discovered that this city, which had been described by an international guidebook as "a playground for foreign adventurers and socialites", fell short of hopes in meeting the demand for a modern indulgence: spa and massage services. Pondering a market that seemed chaotic but thriving, Yam wondered what would be his best bet to capture the opportunity.
Authors :: Saimond Ip, Gilbert Wong, Josephine Lau
Swot Analysis of "Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition" written by Saimond Ip, Gilbert Wong, Josephine Lau includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Yam Arrived facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Operations management, Strategic planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Yam Arrived, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Yam Arrived 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Yam Arrived
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Yam Arrived
Strengths Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Yam Arrived in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Yam Arrived 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.
Learning organization
- Yam Arrived 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 Yam Arrived is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Yam Arrived has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Yam Arrived 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Yam Arrived 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Yam Arrived in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Yam Arrived 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 Saimond Ip, Gilbert Wong, Josephine Lau 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Yam Arrived digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Yam Arrived 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Yam Arrived 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Yam Arrived 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 Yam Arrived in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Yam Arrived is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Yam Arrived has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Yam Arrived in the sector have low bargaining power. Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Yam Arrived to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Yam Arrived is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Yam Arrived supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Yam Arrived vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Yam Arrived 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition, it seems that the employees of Yam Arrived 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Yam Arrived 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Yam Arrived is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Yam Arrived needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Yam Arrived to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Yam Arrived 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Yam Arrived 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Yam Arrived products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Yam Arrived needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Yam Arrived, firm in the HBR case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition | 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Yam Arrived in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Yam Arrived 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Yam Arrived can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Yam Arrived has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Yam Arrived to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition case study. Yam Arrived 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 Yam Arrived 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.
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 Yam Arrived 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Yam Arrived can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Yam Arrived operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Yam Arrived can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Yam Arrived 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.
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. Yam Arrived can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Yam Arrived can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Yam Arrived is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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.
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 Yam Arrived in the consumer business. Now Yam Arrived can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition are -
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. Yam Arrived 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Yam Arrived with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Yam Arrived.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Yam Arrived 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 wage structure of Yam Arrived
– 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 Yam Arrived.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Yam Arrived 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition, Yam Arrived may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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.
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. Yam Arrived needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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 Yam Arrived business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Yam Arrived in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Yam Arrived 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Dragonfly Therapeutic Retreats: Crafting a Winning Proposition 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 Yam Arrived needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
