Two "intrapreneurs" champion an effort to leverage Bloomberg's analytical and technological capabilities in sports by servicing professional franchises and fantasy sports participants. They must determine if they will move into new market segments and geographies where wagering functionality might be critical--testing the limits of the parent company's values and brand.
Swot Analysis of "Bloomberg Sports" written by Jeremy Dann includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sports Intrapreneurs facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bloomberg Sports case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet, Managing organizations, Marketing and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bloomberg Sports casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bloomberg Sports case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sports Intrapreneurs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Bloomberg Sports can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bloomberg Sports case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sports Intrapreneurs
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 Sports Intrapreneurs
Strengths Bloomberg Sports | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sports Intrapreneurs in Bloomberg Sports Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Bloomberg Sports - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Sports Intrapreneurs is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bloomberg Sports Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Sports Intrapreneurs is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sports Intrapreneurs in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Sports Intrapreneurs has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sports Intrapreneurs to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Bloomberg Sports HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Sports Intrapreneurs
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sports Intrapreneurs does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sports Intrapreneurs is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bloomberg Sports are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sports Intrapreneurs digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Bloomberg Sports firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sports Intrapreneurs to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sports Intrapreneurs to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Jeremy Dann 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.
Training and development
– Sports Intrapreneurs has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bloomberg Sports 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.
Weaknesses Bloomberg Sports | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bloomberg Sports are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bloomberg Sports, in the dynamic environment Sports Intrapreneurs has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sports Intrapreneurs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Bloomberg Sports, is just above the industry average. Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sports Intrapreneurs is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bloomberg Sports can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bloomberg Sports HBR case study mentions - Sports Intrapreneurs 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 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 Sports Intrapreneurs supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bloomberg Sports, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sports Intrapreneurs vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sports Intrapreneurs, firm in the HBR case study Bloomberg Sports needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Bloomberg Sports 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 Bloomberg Sports can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sports Intrapreneurs is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sports Intrapreneurs is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Sports Intrapreneurs needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sports Intrapreneurs to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Bloomberg Sports | 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 Bloomberg Sports are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sports Intrapreneurs has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sports Intrapreneurs to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bloomberg Sports case study. Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Sports Intrapreneurs to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sports Intrapreneurs to increase its market reach. Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
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. Sports Intrapreneurs 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. Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sports Intrapreneurs can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sports Intrapreneurs can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Sports Intrapreneurs can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bloomberg Sports 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
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. Sports Intrapreneurs 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 Sports Intrapreneurs in the consumer business. Now Sports Intrapreneurs can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Threats Bloomberg Sports External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bloomberg Sports are -
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. Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sports Intrapreneurs is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Sports Intrapreneurs in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Sports Intrapreneurs
– 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 Sports Intrapreneurs.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
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 Sports Intrapreneurs business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Sports Intrapreneurs can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bloomberg Sports, Sports Intrapreneurs 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 .
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
– Sports Intrapreneurs has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sports Intrapreneurs 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sports Intrapreneurs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bloomberg Sports 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 Bloomberg Sports 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 Bloomberg Sports 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 Bloomberg Sports 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 Bloomberg Sports 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 Sports Intrapreneurs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.