WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled
This case deals with supplier difficulties faced by WildChina - a travel service provider in China. WildChina is a classic case of a company that is trying to bring a local, within-country product to a market outside the country (in this case, travelers to China from around the world). In doing so, startups have to build competences to deal with local suppliers and global customers. The case describes the operations of WildChina, providing detailed information on how they evaluated suppliers to determine their appropriateness, given WildChina's customers. The decision in the case revolves around what the founder should do when faced with a supplier who is trying to bypass WildChina to reach customers directly - a common problem faced by intermediaries.
Authors :: Mukti Khaire, Daniel J. Isenberg, Victoria Song, Shirley M. Spence
Swot Analysis of "WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled" written by Mukti Khaire, Daniel J. Isenberg, Victoria Song, Shirley M. Spence includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wildchina Wildchina's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wildchina Wildchina's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wildchina Wildchina'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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wildchina Wildchina's
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 Wildchina Wildchina's
Strengths WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wildchina Wildchina's in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wildchina Wildchina's 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wildchina Wildchina's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wildchina Wildchina's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wildchina Wildchina'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.
Innovation driven organization
– Wildchina Wildchina's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 Wildchina Wildchina's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wildchina Wildchina's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wildchina Wildchina'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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Wildchina Wildchina's 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 Mukti Khaire, Daniel J. Isenberg, Victoria Song, Shirley M. Spence 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wildchina Wildchina's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wildchina Wildchina's in the sector have low bargaining power. WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wildchina Wildchina's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Wildchina Wildchina's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wildchina Wildchina's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wildchina Wildchina'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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Wildchina Wildchina's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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.
Weaknesses WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wildchina Wildchina's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Wildchina Wildchina's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wildchina Wildchina's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wildchina Wildchina's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wildchina Wildchina's 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mukti Khaire, Daniel J. Isenberg, Victoria Song, Shirley M. Spence suggests that, Wildchina Wildchina'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.
Need for greater diversity
– Wildchina Wildchina's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled, in the dynamic environment Wildchina Wildchina's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wildchina Wildchina's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Wildchina Wildchina'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 Wildchina Wildchina's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wildchina Wildchina's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wildchina Wildchina's 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 - WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled HBR case study mentions - Wildchina Wildchina'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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 Wildchina Wildchina's 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled | 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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wildchina Wildchina'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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wildchina Wildchina's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Wildchina Wildchina's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wildchina Wildchina'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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wildchina Wildchina's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wildchina Wildchina's to increase its market reach. Wildchina Wildchina's 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wildchina Wildchina'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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Wildchina Wildchina's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Wildchina Wildchina's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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.
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 Wildchina Wildchina's 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.
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. Wildchina Wildchina's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wildchina Wildchina'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, WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wildchina Wildchina's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wildchina Wildchina's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled case study. Wildchina Wildchina'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 Wildchina Wildchina'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 Wildchina Wildchina's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wildchina Wildchina'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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Wildchina Wildchina'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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wildchina Wildchina'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.
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 Wildchina Wildchina's.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wildchina Wildchina's in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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.
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. Wildchina Wildchina'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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wildchina Wildchina's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wildchina Wildchina's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wildchina Wildchina's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Wildchina Wildchina's in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Wildchina Wildchina's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wildchina Wildchina's is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Wildchina Wildchina'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. Wildchina Wildchina's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled 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 Wildchina Wildchina's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.