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 - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
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.
Organizational Resilience of Entrepreneurial Draws
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Entrepreneurial Draws does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Entrepreneurial Draws digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Entrepreneurial Draws in the sector have low bargaining power. Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Entrepreneurial Draws to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Entrepreneurial Draws is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Entrepreneurial Draws is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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 -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, is just above the industry average. Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Entrepreneurial Draws supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Entrepreneurial Draws vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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 Entrepreneurial Draws 's lucrative customers.
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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Entrepreneurial Draws can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Entrepreneurial Draws operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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.
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 Entrepreneurial Draws in the consumer business. Now Entrepreneurial Draws can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Entrepreneurial Draws 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. Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Entrepreneurial Draws can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Entrepreneurial Marketing: Learning from High-Potential Ventures 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.
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 -
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.
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 Entrepreneurial Draws business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
Increasing wage structure of Entrepreneurial Draws
– 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 Entrepreneurial Draws.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Entrepreneurial Draws 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 Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Entrepreneurial Draws 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.
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.
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.