MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry
MAS Holdings is a family-owned manufacturer of women's apparel, founded by three brothers who have built the firm into a US$570 million business. Clients include the biggest brands in lingerie and sportswear. The textile industry makes up 50% of Sri Lankan exports, especially from China. The case is about using corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool in global competition.
Swot Analysis of "MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry" written by Story Jonathan, Watson Noshua includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mas Apparel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Social responsibility, Strategy, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mas Apparel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mas Apparel 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mas Apparel
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 Mas Apparel
Strengths MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mas Apparel in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mas Apparel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mas Apparel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mas Apparel 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.
Organizational Resilience of Mas Apparel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mas Apparel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Mas Apparel 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 Story Jonathan, Watson Noshua 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Mas Apparel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mas Apparel 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mas Apparel in the sector have low bargaining power. MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mas Apparel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Mas Apparel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Mas Apparel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mas Apparel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mas Apparel 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Mas Apparel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mas Apparel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mas Apparel is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Mas Apparel needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mas Apparel to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mas Apparel 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, Mas Apparel 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mas Apparel 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 Mas Apparel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mas Apparel 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 - MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 Mas Apparel 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry, is just above the industry average. Mas Apparel 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, Mas Apparel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Mas Apparel 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry, 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.
Opportunities MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry | 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mas Apparel to increase its market reach. Mas Apparel 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mas Apparel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mas Apparel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry case study. Mas Apparel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Mas Apparel in the consumer business. Now Mas Apparel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mas Apparel 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mas Apparel 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mas Apparel can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mas Apparel 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mas Apparel 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.
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. Mas Apparel can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Mas Apparel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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
– Mas Apparel 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.
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 Mas Apparel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mas Apparel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry, Mas Apparel may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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. Mas Apparel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mas Apparel 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mas Apparel 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mas Apparel 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.
Increasing wage structure of Mas Apparel
– 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 Mas Apparel.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mas Apparel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mas Apparel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mas Apparel 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mas Apparel 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.
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 Mas Apparel.
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. Mas Apparel 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.
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. Mas Apparel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Mas Apparel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 MAS Holdings: Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry 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 Mas Apparel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.