Case Study Description of Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape
Iceland's music industry is in a time of tremendous flux--sales of recorded music are dropping, while the portion of homegrown music is growing. Live music at festivals, concert halls, and smaller venues is on the rise. Iceland, like several other nations, is enjoying access to greater selection for less cost by downloading music for free. Amidst the change is a musician-entrepreneur who has started Iceland's first pay-for-download website. In getting the website operational, he encounters many challenges, such as selling Icelandic music internationally, which makes him reconsider his business model.
Swot Analysis of "Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape" written by Pratima Bansal, Jordan Mitchell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Music Iceland's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Music Iceland's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Music Iceland'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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Music Iceland'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 Music Iceland's
Strengths Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Music Iceland's in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Music Iceland'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 Music Iceland's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Music Iceland's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Music Iceland'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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Music Iceland'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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Music Iceland's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Music Iceland'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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Music Iceland's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Music Iceland's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Music Iceland's in the sector have low bargaining power. Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Music Iceland's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Music Iceland's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Music Iceland'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 Music Iceland's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Music Iceland'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 Pratima Bansal, Jordan Mitchell 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.
High brand equity
– Music Iceland's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Music Iceland's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Music Iceland's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Music Iceland's has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Music Iceland's even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Music Iceland's 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pratima Bansal, Jordan Mitchell suggests that, Music Iceland'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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Music Iceland's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Music Iceland's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Music Iceland's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Music Iceland's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Music Iceland's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Music Iceland's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Music Iceland'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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape HBR case study mentions - Music Iceland'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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape, it seems that the employees of Music Iceland'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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Music Iceland's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Music Iceland'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.
Opportunities Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape | 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape are -
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 Music Iceland's in the consumer business. Now Music Iceland's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Music Iceland's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Music Iceland'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
– Music Iceland's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Music Iceland'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 Music Iceland's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Music Iceland's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Music Iceland's to increase its market reach. Music Iceland'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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Music Iceland's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Music Iceland's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape case study. Music Iceland's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Music Iceland'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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Music Iceland's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Music Iceland'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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Music Iceland's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Music Iceland's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Music Iceland'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.
Threats Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape are -
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 Music Iceland's.
Regulatory challenges
– Music Iceland'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.
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. Music Iceland's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Music Iceland's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Music Iceland's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Music Iceland'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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Music Iceland'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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Music Iceland's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Music Iceland's is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Music Iceland'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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Music Iceland'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.
Environmental challenges
– Music Iceland'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. Music Iceland's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Increasing wage structure of Music Iceland's
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Music Iceland's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Tonlist (A): Changing Iceland's Music Landscape 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 Music Iceland's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
