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iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?


Briefly describes content of case. In August 2008 two young entrepreneurs created the iPhone application iBART, which offered instant access to all of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit information. After achieving rapid success, they were at a critical juncture with their start-up. How could they monetize their app? What growth strategies should they pursue for their company?

Authors :: Leslie A Goldgehn

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Pricing, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?" written by Leslie A Goldgehn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Iphone Ibart facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Pricing and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, 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, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Iphone Ibart, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Iphone Ibart 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Iphone Ibart
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 Iphone Ibart




Strengths iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Iphone Ibart in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? Harvard Business Review case study are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Iphone Ibart 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Iphone Ibart in the sector have low bargaining power. iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Iphone Ibart to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Training and development

– Iphone Ibart has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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.

Organizational Resilience of Iphone Ibart

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Iphone Ibart does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Diverse revenue streams

– Iphone Ibart is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Iphone Ibart is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field

– Iphone Ibart 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 Iphone Ibart in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Iphone Ibart 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 Leslie A Goldgehn 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Iphone Ibart 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Iphone Ibart in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Innovation driven organization

– Iphone Ibart is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Iphone Ibart to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Iphone Ibart to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.






Weaknesses iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?, is just above the industry average. Iphone Ibart 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Iphone Ibart 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Iphone Ibart 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 - iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Iphone Ibart, firm in the HBR case study iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 Iphone Ibart has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?, 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Iphone Ibart 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Leslie A Goldgehn suggests that, Iphone Ibart 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Iphone Ibart 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Iphone Ibart 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Iphone Ibart products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Iphone Ibart needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.




Opportunities iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? | 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Iphone Ibart 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.

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 Iphone Ibart in the consumer business. Now Iphone Ibart can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Iphone Ibart 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Iphone Ibart can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Buying journey improvements

– Iphone Ibart can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Iphone Ibart can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Developing new processes and practices

– Iphone Ibart 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.

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. Iphone Ibart 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 Iphone Ibart 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 Iphone Ibart to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Loyalty marketing

– Iphone Ibart 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Iphone Ibart 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Iphone Ibart to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Iphone Ibart 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.

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 Iphone Ibart 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.




Threats iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? are -

Consumer confidence and its impact on Iphone Ibart 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Iphone Ibart is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Iphone Ibart 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Iphone Ibart 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.

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. Iphone Ibart 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby?, Iphone Ibart 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 .

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Iphone Ibart with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Iphone Ibart 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Iphone Ibart has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Iphone Ibart 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.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Iphone Ibart 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.

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. Iphone Ibart 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.

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 iPhone Applications: Viable Business or Time-Consuming Hobby? 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 Iphone Ibart needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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