Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li
Tommy Li was a designer and brand consultant renowned for his black humour and bold visual impact. With business spanning Hong Kong, China, Macau, Japan and Italy, he was one of the few Hong Kong designers to have entered the international market. In his ten years of experience as a design staff member, Li learned that "getting the right client is the key to a successful design consultancy business." Therefore, Li set up his own company to have full freedom in choosing his own clients, and his "choosing clients strategically" philosophy brought him great success. Consequently, he became a famous Hong Kong designer and brand consultant with reputable local and overseas clients. With international firms many times bigger than Li's firm entering China, Li saw mounting competitive pressure. Was Li's stardom an adequate defence against firms composed of multidisciplinary teams equipped with innovation-driven design thinking and processes? Was scale a critical issue in staying competitive? Was proximity to the market an important advantage?The brand consulting industry also faced intense competition from international business consultancies, advertising and public relations agencies. Each camp used a different approach to target the same group of brand-conscious clients. Could Li cope with these challenges?The case was developed to teach designers and design entrepreneurs. It is also suitable for MBA and other executive classes on entrepreneurship and creative business. This case is intended to achieve the following objectives: 1) study how strategic thinking guided Li to develop his design business despite changing market conditions 2) understand how path dependence and dynamic capabilities explain Li's success and challenges in a changing business environment 3) discuss the best approach to grow a design business - building methodology and processes or becoming a star in new markets.
Authors :: Kevin Au, Bernard Suen, Na Shen, Justine Tang
Swot Analysis of "Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li" written by Kevin Au, Bernard Suen, Na Shen, Justine Tang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Li Li's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, International business and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Li Li's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Li Li'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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Li Li'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 Li Li's
Strengths Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Li Li's in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Li Li's 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 Li Li's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Li Li's 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 Li Li's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Li Li's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Li Li'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.
Analytics focus
– Li Li'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 Kevin Au, Bernard Suen, Na Shen, Justine Tang 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Li Li's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Li Li'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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Li Li's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Li Li's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Li Li's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Li Li's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Li Li's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Li Li's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Li Li's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Li Li's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Li Li's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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.
Weaknesses Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Li Li'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 - Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Li Li's 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li, is just above the industry average. Li Li's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li, it seems that the employees of Li Li's 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kevin Au, Bernard Suen, Na Shen, Justine Tang suggests that, Li Li'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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Li Li's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Li Li'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.
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 Li Li's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Li Li's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Li Li's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Li Li'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.
Opportunities Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li | 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Li Li'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 Li Li's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Li Li's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Li Li'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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Li Li'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.
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 Li Li'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.
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 Li Li's in the consumer business. Now Li Li's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Li Li'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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Li Li's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Li Li's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li case study. Li Li's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Li Li's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Li Li's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Li Li'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 Li Li'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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Li Li's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Li Li'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. Li Li'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.
Threats Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li are -
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 Li Li's in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Li Li's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Li Li'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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Li Li's 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li, Li Li's 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Li Li's is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Li Li's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Li Li'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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Li Li'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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Li Li'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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Li Li's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Li Li'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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li 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 Li Li's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.