Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina
Describes the creation and financing of Officenet, an office supply distributor in Argentina. The company serves the business-to-business market through a catalog (combined with phone orders) and also through an Internet-based catalog. Officenet is a pioneer in both catalog and Internet channels. While the company is possibly an acquisition target for one of the large U.S.-based office supply distributors, the entrepreneurs have to do a lot of work before they can realize an exit. They have to decide in which direction to grow the company and how to finance this growth. Specifically, a commercial paper program seems feasible in the near future, and the entrepreneurs have to decide on its size.
Swot Analysis of "Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina" written by Walter Kuemmerle, William J. Coughlin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Officenet Catalog facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, Market research and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Officenet Catalog, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Officenet Catalog 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Officenet Catalog
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 Officenet Catalog
Strengths Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Officenet Catalog in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Officenet Catalog in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Officenet Catalog 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
– Officenet Catalog 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Officenet Catalog 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 Walter Kuemmerle, William J. Coughlin 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
– Officenet Catalog is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Officenet Catalog has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Officenet Catalog to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Officenet Catalog 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 Officenet Catalog in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Officenet Catalog 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 Officenet Catalog is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Officenet Catalog is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Officenet Catalog in the sector have low bargaining power. Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Officenet Catalog to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Officenet Catalog to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Officenet Catalog to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Officenet Catalog is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Officenet Catalog 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 - Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Officenet Catalog 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Officenet Catalog 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Officenet Catalog is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Officenet Catalog needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Officenet Catalog to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Walter Kuemmerle, William J. Coughlin suggests that, Officenet Catalog 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina HBR case study mentions - Officenet Catalog 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Officenet Catalog 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Officenet Catalog is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Officenet Catalog products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Officenet Catalog needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina | 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Officenet Catalog 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Officenet Catalog 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Officenet Catalog can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Officenet Catalog operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Officenet Catalog 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Officenet Catalog to increase its market reach. Officenet Catalog 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Officenet Catalog 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Officenet Catalog 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Officenet Catalog can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Officenet Catalog 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.
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. Officenet Catalog 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. Officenet Catalog 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Officenet Catalog is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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.
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. Officenet Catalog can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Officenet Catalog 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Officenet Catalog to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Officenet Catalog 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 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. Officenet Catalog needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Officenet Catalog 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.
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 Officenet Catalog in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Officenet Catalog 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.
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 Officenet Catalog.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Officenet Catalog 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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina, Officenet Catalog 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 .
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. Officenet Catalog can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Officenet Catalog 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Officenet Catalog with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet (A): Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina 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 Officenet Catalog needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
