Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
Nickolay Lamm, a recent university graduate, has been interested in entrepreneurship since his childhood. After running two small start-ups as a teen, graduating with a marketing degree and being laid off from his first traditional job, he finds himself working as a freelance designer. His focus is on creating original visual representations of data that go viral. Nickolay's speculative illustration of a fashion doll based on the proportions of an average 19-year old American woman (referred to as "Normal Barbie" by online media) creates considerable market buzz. His "average is beautiful" doll concept is widely covered in online media channels including the Huffington Post, BBC Radio, Cosmopolitan, CNN, Good Morning America, MSN and Smithsonian. When Nickolay starts to receive requests from parents asking where they can purchase an actual physical "average" doll based on his visual representation, he asks himself a question: "Is this the entrepreneurial opportunity for which I've been waiting?" In the end, Nickolay has a decision to make: 1) explore the feasibility of a partnership with Mattel, Hasbro or another established player 2) launch his own company, either with business partners or by himself; or 3) wait for a better entrepreneurial opportunity to emerge...
Swot Analysis of "Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?" written by Heidi M.J. Bertels, Michael S. Lehman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nickolay Doll facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Strategic planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nickolay Doll, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nickolay Doll 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nickolay Doll
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 Nickolay Doll
Strengths Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nickolay Doll in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nickolay Doll to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nickolay Doll to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nickolay Doll 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Nickolay Doll in the sector have low bargaining power. Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nickolay Doll to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Nickolay Doll has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nickolay Doll in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Nickolay Doll is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Nickolay Doll 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 Nickolay Doll is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nickolay Doll 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Nickolay Doll is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Nickolay Doll
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Nickolay Doll does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nickolay Doll is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nickolay Doll 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nickolay Doll products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nickolay Doll needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Heidi M.J. Bertels, Michael S. Lehman suggests that, Nickolay Doll 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nickolay Doll has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Nickolay Doll 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? HBR case study mentions - Nickolay Doll 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Nickolay Doll has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Nickolay Doll supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nickolay Doll vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nickolay Doll is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nickolay Doll is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nickolay Doll 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.
Opportunities Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? | 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? are -
Manufacturing automation
– Nickolay Doll 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nickolay Doll 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.
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 Nickolay Doll 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nickolay Doll has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nickolay Doll to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? case study. Nickolay Doll can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nickolay Doll 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nickolay Doll 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 Nickolay Doll 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 Nickolay Doll 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. Nickolay Doll 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. Nickolay Doll 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nickolay Doll 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nickolay Doll can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Nickolay Doll can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Nickolay Doll 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nickolay Doll 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nickolay Doll to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?, Nickolay Doll 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 .
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 Nickolay Doll business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nickolay Doll 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.
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 Nickolay Doll.
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.
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. Nickolay Doll needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Nickolay Doll 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nickolay Doll 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nickolay Doll 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.
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. Nickolay Doll can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nickolay Doll 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. Nickolay Doll 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nickolay Doll 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing? 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 Nickolay Doll needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
