Swot Analysis of "KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland" written by Josh Lerner, Nathaniel Burbank includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Scout24 Ringier facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Scout24 Ringier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Scout24 Ringier 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Scout24 Ringier
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 Scout24 Ringier
Strengths KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Scout24 Ringier in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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.
Training and development
– Scout24 Ringier has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Scout24 Ringier is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Scout24 Ringier is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Scout24 Ringier
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Scout24 Ringier does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Scout24 Ringier to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Scout24 Ringier to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Scout24 Ringier 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Scout24 Ringier digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Scout24 Ringier 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.
High brand equity
– Scout24 Ringier has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Scout24 Ringier to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Scout24 Ringier are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Scout24 Ringier 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 Scout24 Ringier is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Scout24 Ringier in the sector have low bargaining power. KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Scout24 Ringier to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Scout24 Ringier is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Scout24 Ringier needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Scout24 Ringier to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Scout24 Ringier is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Scout24 Ringier 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Scout24 Ringier products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Scout24 Ringier 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, Josh Lerner, Nathaniel Burbank suggests that, Scout24 Ringier 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland, in the dynamic environment Scout24 Ringier has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Scout24 Ringier has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 Scout24 Ringier 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Scout24 Ringier 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 - KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Scout24 Ringier 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Scout24 Ringier 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.
Opportunities KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland | 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Scout24 Ringier 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Scout24 Ringier has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Scout24 Ringier to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland case study. Scout24 Ringier can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Scout24 Ringier 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 Scout24 Ringier to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Scout24 Ringier can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Scout24 Ringier can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Scout24 Ringier in the consumer business. Now Scout24 Ringier can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Scout24 Ringier can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Scout24 Ringier 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. Scout24 Ringier 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Scout24 Ringier 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 Scout24 Ringier 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Scout24 Ringier can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Scout24 Ringier 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Scout24 Ringier 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.
Threats KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland are -
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 Scout24 Ringier in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Scout24 Ringier 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Scout24 Ringier has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Scout24 Ringier 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland, Scout24 Ringier 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 .
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 Scout24 Ringier.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Scout24 Ringier 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. Scout24 Ringier can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Scout24 Ringier 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 Scout24 Ringier is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Scout24 Ringier 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.
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 Scout24 Ringier business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Scout24 Ringier 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 KKR, Ringier Digital, and the Acquisition of Scout24 Switzerland 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 Scout24 Ringier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.