Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?
The executive vice-president of newspapers for Schibsted was about to meet with his colleagues to discuss the company's plan to release an internally developed free daily newspaper concept called 20 Minutes. Over the past couple of years, Schibsted's executive team had kept a watchful eye on the free newspaper industry, which was enjoying tremendous popularity. Earlier in the year, Schibsted had launched Avis 1, a free paper with direct delivery to homes in Oslo, Norway. Looking to expand beyond their home country of Norway, Schibsted's executives had developed a proposal to simultaneously launch 20 Minutes in Zurich, Switzerland, and Cologne, Germany. The executive vice-president of newspapers and his colleagues were scheduled to present this recommendation to Schibsted's board of directors within a month. They were in the midst of preparing a financial and strategic analysis, since they were certain the board of directors would ask some tough questions. The supplemental case Schibsted (B): Should We Start Up "20 Minutes Cologne" Again?, describes the events folllowing.
Swot Analysis of "Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?" written by Jean-Louis Schaan, Jordan Mitchell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Schibsted Schibsted's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Schibsted Schibsted's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Schibsted Schibsted's 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Schibsted Schibsted's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Schibsted Schibsted's
Strengths Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Schibsted Schibsted's in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Schibsted Schibsted's 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Schibsted Schibsted's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Schibsted Schibsted's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Schibsted Schibsted's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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.
Organizational Resilience of Schibsted Schibsted's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Schibsted Schibsted's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Schibsted Schibsted's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Schibsted Schibsted's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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.
Learning organization
- Schibsted Schibsted's 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 Schibsted Schibsted's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Schibsted Schibsted's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Schibsted Schibsted's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Schibsted Schibsted's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Weaknesses Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Schibsted Schibsted's 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 - Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?, in the dynamic environment Schibsted Schibsted's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Schibsted Schibsted's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Schibsted Schibsted's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Schibsted Schibsted's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? HBR case study mentions - Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Schibsted Schibsted's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Schibsted Schibsted's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Schibsted Schibsted's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Schibsted Schibsted's is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted Schibsted's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Opportunities Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? | 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Schibsted Schibsted's has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Schibsted Schibsted's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Schibsted Schibsted's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Schibsted Schibsted's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Schibsted Schibsted's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Schibsted Schibsted's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? case study. Schibsted Schibsted's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Schibsted Schibsted's 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, Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Schibsted Schibsted's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Schibsted Schibsted's 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. Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Schibsted Schibsted's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Schibsted Schibsted's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Schibsted Schibsted's 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 Schibsted Schibsted's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Schibsted Schibsted's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Schibsted Schibsted's in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Schibsted Schibsted's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Schibsted Schibsted's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Schibsted Schibsted's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Schibsted Schibsted's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Schibsted Schibsted's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Schibsted Schibsted's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Schibsted Schibsted's.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Schibsted Schibsted's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Schibsted Schibsted's 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Schibsted Schibsted's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Schibsted Schibsted's
– 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 Schibsted Schibsted's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted (A): Should We Launch "20 Minutes"? 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 Schibsted Schibsted's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
