Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem
The case charts the growth of Blk71 and related developments in Singapore's startup scene. It explores the factors that came together to help the startup hub grow from 2011 to 2015. The focus is on how a startup ecosystem can be nurtured; in particular, why Blk71 and government schemes from the late 2000s took off when earlier schemes have met with limited success.
Swot Analysis of "Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem" written by Hui Min Chew, Boon Siong Neo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Blk71 Startup facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Innovation, Internet, Venture capital and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Blk71 Startup, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Blk71 Startup
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 Blk71 Startup
Strengths Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Blk71 Startup in Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Blk71 Startup is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Blk71 Startup in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Blk71 Startup has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Blk71 Startup 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Blk71 Startup is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Blk71 Startup is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Blk71 Startup 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 Hui Min Chew, Boon Siong Neo 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 lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71 Startup in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Blk71 Startup 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Blk71 Startup in the sector have low bargaining power. Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Blk71 Startup to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Blk71 Startup has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Blk71 Startup to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Blk71 Startup 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 - Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem, is just above the industry average. Blk71 Startup 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Blk71 Startup 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem, it seems that the employees of Blk71 Startup 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Blk71 Startup is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71 Startup has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Blk71 Startup, firm in the HBR case study Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Blk71 Startup 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Blk71 Startup is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Blk71 Startup needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Blk71 Startup to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hui Min Chew, Boon Siong Neo suggests that, Blk71 Startup 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Blk71 Startup 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.
Opportunities Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem | 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Blk71 Startup 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Blk71 Startup 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, Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem, 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, Blk71 Startup is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Blk71 Startup 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71 Startup to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Blk71 Startup 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. Blk71 Startup 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.
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. Blk71 Startup can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Blk71 Startup 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Blk71 Startup 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Blk71 Startup 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.
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 Blk71 Startup in the consumer business. Now Blk71 Startup can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Blk71 Startup to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Blk71 Startup has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Blk71 Startup to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem case study. Blk71 Startup can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem .
Increasing wage structure of Blk71 Startup
– 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 Blk71 Startup.
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. Blk71 Startup can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Blk71 Startup 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 Blk71 Startup with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Blk71 Startup is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Blk71 Startup 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Blk71 Startup high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Blk71 Startup will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Blk71 Startup in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Blk71 Startup 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. Blk71 Startup can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Blk71 Startup has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Blk71 Startup 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71: Growth of a Singapore Startup Ecosystem 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 Blk71 Startup needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.