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 inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wartburg Autozone 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 Wartburg Autozone in the sector have low bargaining power. Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wartburg Autozone to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wartburg Autozone 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.
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.
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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wartburg Autozone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Wartburg Autozone has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wartburg Autozone to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wartburg Autozone is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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.
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 -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Wartburg Autozone has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Wartburg Autozone even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Timothy Ewest, David M Miller, Kacee Garner, Holly Huser suggests that, Wartburg Autozone is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone, is just above the industry average. Wartburg Autozone 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wartburg Autozone 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 - Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone 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 Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wartburg Autozone is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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 Wartburg Autozone 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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wartburg Autozone 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.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wartburg Autozone 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.
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.
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.
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 Wartburg Autozone in the consumer business. Now Wartburg Autozone can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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 -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Wartburg Autozone 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.
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 Wartburg 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Faith and Work: Hobby Lobby and AutoZone, Wartburg Autozone 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 .
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wartburg Autozone 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Wartburg Autozone needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Wartburg Autozone can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
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.
