Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone
Religion in the workplace is of growing interest as more individuals desire to express their spirituality and incorporate their whole selves there. Expression can take a variety of forms as employees and employers attempt to integrate their personal beliefs into their daily work.This case considers two organizational sides of integrating faith into the workplace: the employee and employer perspectives. The first part of the case takes the perspective of the owner of Hobby Lobby, a privately held arts and crafts company whose founder has always endeavoured to incorporate his Christian beliefs within business practices. The company must react to changes imposed by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that it perceives as contrary to its values. The second part of the case considers religious discrimination experienced by an employee of AutoZone, a distributor and retailer of automobile parts. What is the place of religion in the workplace? How important is it for organizations to adapt to various forms of religious expression? Timothy Ewest is affiliated with Wartburg College. David W. Miller is affiliated with Princeton University. Kacee Garner is affiliated with Wartburg College. Holly Huser is affiliated with Wartburg College.
Authors :: Timothy Ewest, David M Miller, Kacee Garner, Holly Huser
Swot Analysis of "Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone" written by Timothy Ewest, David M Miller, Kacee Garner, Holly Huser includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wartburg Autozone facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wartburg Autozone, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wartburg Autozone
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 Wartburg Autozone
Strengths Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wartburg Autozone in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wartburg Autozone in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Wartburg Autozone is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wartburg Autozone has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wartburg Autozone 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Wartburg Autozone digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Wartburg Autozone 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 Leadership & Managing People industry
– Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wartburg Autozone to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wartburg Autozone to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Wartburg Autozone has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Wartburg Autozone is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wartburg Autozone is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Wartburg Autozone
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Wartburg Autozone does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Wartburg Autozone 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 Timothy Ewest, David M Miller, Kacee Garner, Holly Huser 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.
Weaknesses Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone, in the dynamic environment Wartburg Autozone has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wartburg Autozone has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wartburg Autozone 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wartburg Autozone is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone HBR case study mentions - Wartburg Autozone 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 Wartburg Autozone supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wartburg Autozone vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Wartburg Autozone has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Wartburg Autozone has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Wartburg Autozone products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wartburg Autozone needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wartburg Autozone 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Wartburg Autozone 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone | 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wartburg Autozone is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wartburg Autozone 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wartburg Autozone 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wartburg Autozone 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wartburg Autozone to increase its market reach. Wartburg Autozone 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wartburg Autozone 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.
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. Wartburg Autozone can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Wartburg Autozone can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wartburg Autozone 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 Wartburg Autozone to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Wartburg Autozone can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wartburg Autozone to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Wartburg Autozone can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Wartburg Autozone can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone are -
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.
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. Wartburg Autozone needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wartburg Autozone 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.
Increasing wage structure of Wartburg Autozone
– 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 Wartburg Autozone.
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. Wartburg Autozone 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wartburg Autozone has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wartburg Autozone 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.
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 Wartburg Autozone in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Wartburg Autozone 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone .
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. Wartburg Autozone can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wartburg Autozone 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.
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 Wartburg Autozone business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Wartburg Autozone needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.