Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?
The inventor and founder of DEKA research was deciding whether to commercialize his latest invention, the Segway Human Transporter, a self-balancing, battery-operated scooter. The transporter was envisioned as an alternative mode of personal transportation in traffic-clogged urban environments. It also had potential application in developing countries with a limited transportation infrastructure. With the versatility to carry riders on sidewalks, rough ground, icy surfaces and inside buildings, the market potential seemed unlimited. Yet, the Segway Human Transporter represented an unconventional transportation choice for potential users. Would there be a market for it, or would it be seen as nothing more than a cool invention? Should the inventor proceed with commercialization, and if so, how?
Swot Analysis of "Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?" written by Charlene Nicholls-Nixon, Daniel Day includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Transporter Segway facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Product development, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Transporter Segway, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Transporter Segway 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Transporter Segway
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 Transporter Segway
Strengths Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Transporter Segway in Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Transporter Segway is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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.
Analytics focus
– Transporter Segway 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 Charlene Nicholls-Nixon, Daniel Day 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
– Transporter Segway is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Transporter Segway is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Transporter Segway 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
– Transporter Segway 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Transporter Segway 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? - 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 Transporter Segway in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Transporter Segway digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Transporter Segway 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Transporter Segway has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Transporter Segway 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Transporter Segway to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Transporter Segway to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Transporter Segway 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Transporter Segway is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Transporter Segway needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Transporter Segway to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Transporter Segway is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Transporter Segway 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Transporter Segway 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 - Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Transporter Segway has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Transporter Segway, firm in the HBR case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Transporter Segway products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Transporter Segway needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?, it seems that the employees of Transporter Segway 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?, in the dynamic environment Transporter Segway has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Transporter Segway has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? | 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Transporter Segway 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Transporter Segway 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Transporter Segway can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Transporter Segway is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Transporter Segway 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. Transporter Segway 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Transporter Segway has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Transporter Segway to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? case study. Transporter Segway can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Transporter Segway 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
– Transporter Segway 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Transporter Segway to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Transporter Segway can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Transporter Segway 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, Transporter Segway 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Transporter Segway 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 Transporter Segway 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 Transporter Segway 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.
Threats Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention?, Transporter Segway 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 Transporter Segway with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Transporter Segway 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Transporter Segway 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 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Transporter Segway 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? .
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 Transporter Segway in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline 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 Transporter Segway 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Transporter Segway is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Transporter Segway has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Transporter Segway 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Transporter Segway 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.
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. Transporter Segway will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Segway Human Transporter: More than a Cool Invention? 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 Transporter Segway needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
