Case Study Description of Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures
Describes entrepreneurial marketing as both a mind-set and a process. Draws on some 30 business field cases and some 300 student projects that provide insight into what managers do in high-potential settings.
Swot Analysis of "Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures" written by Joseph B. Lassiter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Entrepreneurial Draws facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management, Marketing, Product development and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Entrepreneurial Draws, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Entrepreneurial Draws
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 Entrepreneurial Draws
Strengths Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Entrepreneurial Draws in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Entrepreneurial Draws is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Entrepreneurial Draws has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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.
Analytics focus
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Joseph B. Lassiter 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 brand equity
– Entrepreneurial Draws has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Entrepreneurial Draws to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Entrepreneurial Draws has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Draws in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Entrepreneurial Draws 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
- Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Draws is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Entrepreneurial Draws to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Entrepreneurial Draws to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Entrepreneurial Draws has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Entrepreneurial Draws products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Entrepreneurial Draws needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Entrepreneurial Draws is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, in the dynamic environment Entrepreneurial Draws has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Entrepreneurial Draws has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Entrepreneurial Draws has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Entrepreneurial Draws even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, it seems that the employees of Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Draws has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Entrepreneurial Draws is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Entrepreneurial Draws, firm in the HBR case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures | 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures are -
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. Entrepreneurial Draws can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Entrepreneurial Draws 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, Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, 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, Entrepreneurial Draws is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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.
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. Entrepreneurial Draws can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Entrepreneurial Draws to increase its market reach. Entrepreneurial Draws will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Draws has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Entrepreneurial Draws to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures case study. Entrepreneurial Draws can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Entrepreneurial Draws can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures are -
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 Entrepreneurial Draws.
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. Entrepreneurial Draws can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Entrepreneurial Draws in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, Entrepreneurial Draws 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 .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Entrepreneurial Draws has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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. Entrepreneurial Draws needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Entrepreneurial Draws with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures .
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. Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Draws needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.