Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model
Mavens & Moguls is a "virtual" marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which its founder, Paige Arnof-Fenn, learns the business, builds a power network of industry experts and potential customers, and uses this expertise to build a new company that fulfills her career and life goals and also provides a wide range of work options to the consultants. Drawing on her experience and her network, she creates a high-quality marketing consulting operation that offers her and her stable of consultants challenging work, rewarding income, personal autonomy, and flexibility. Because Arnof-Fenn is at the nexus of almost all the deals, rapid growth has the potential to challenge the business model and threaten the fundamental values of the organization.
Authors :: Myra M. Hart, Kristin J. Lieb, Victoria W. Winston
Swot Analysis of "Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model" written by Myra M. Hart, Kristin J. Lieb, Victoria W. Winston includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Arnof Fenn facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Innovation, Internet, Organizational culture and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Arnof Fenn, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Arnof Fenn 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Arnof Fenn
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 Arnof Fenn
Strengths Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Arnof Fenn in Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Arnof Fenn is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Arnof Fenn has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Arnof Fenn 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Arnof Fenn 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 Arnof Fenn in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Arnof Fenn to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Arnof Fenn to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Arnof Fenn in the sector have low bargaining power. Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Arnof Fenn to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Arnof Fenn
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Arnof Fenn does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Arnof Fenn digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Arnof Fenn 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Arnof Fenn 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Arnof Fenn 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Arnof Fenn is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Arnof Fenn 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.
High brand equity
– Arnof Fenn has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Arnof Fenn to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model, is just above the industry average. Arnof Fenn 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Arnof Fenn 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Arnof Fenn is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Myra M. Hart, Kristin J. Lieb, Victoria W. Winston suggests that, Arnof Fenn 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Arnof Fenn 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Arnof Fenn has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Arnof Fenn 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Arnof Fenn 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Arnof Fenn is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Arnof Fenn supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Arnof Fenn vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model, it seems that the employees of Arnof Fenn 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.
Opportunities Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model | 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Arnof Fenn 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Arnof Fenn can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Arnof Fenn has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Arnof Fenn to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model case study. Arnof Fenn can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Arnof Fenn 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. Arnof Fenn 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Arnof Fenn 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.
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 Arnof Fenn 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Arnof Fenn to increase its market reach. Arnof Fenn 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Arnof Fenn can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Arnof Fenn 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Arnof Fenn to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Arnof Fenn 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Arnof Fenn has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
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. Arnof Fenn can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Arnof Fenn 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 Arnof Fenn to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Arnof Fenn 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.
Environmental challenges
– Arnof Fenn 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. Arnof Fenn can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Arnof Fenn 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Arnof Fenn 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Arnof Fenn has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Arnof Fenn 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Arnof Fenn high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Arnof Fenn 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.
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 Arnof Fenn 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, Arnof Fenn 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model .
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 Arnof Fenn 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. Arnof Fenn needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model, Arnof Fenn 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 Arnof Fenn is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model 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 Arnof Fenn needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
