Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket
Vendedy was the world's first mobile network connecting global travellers to local street markets. Inspired by the emergence of the sharing economy, Vendedy's founder and chief executive officer had always been passionate about uniting social and economic empowerment with entrepreneurial development. A complex platform linking street vendors in some of the world's poorest countries to travellers seeking authentic tourism experiences and souvenirs, Vendedy's founder faced numerous challenges. Where should the venture's focus be? How quickly should she try to roll out the platform, and across how many countries? How was she going to recruit a full-time team for Vendedy? Could the company succeed in transforming how global travellers accessed the products and stories of street vendors around the world? Yusaf Akbar is affiliated with Central European University.
Swot Analysis of "Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket" written by Yusaf Akbar, Christine Souffrant includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vendedy Travellers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vendedy Travellers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vendedy Travellers
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 Vendedy Travellers
Strengths Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vendedy Travellers in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy Travellers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Vendedy Travellers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Vendedy Travellers in the sector have low bargaining power. Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Vendedy Travellers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Vendedy Travellers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Vendedy Travellers 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
– Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vendedy Travellers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vendedy Travellers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Vendedy Travellers 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Vendedy Travellers is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Vendedy Travellers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Vendedy Travellers 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Vendedy Travellers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vendedy Travellers 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vendedy Travellers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vendedy Travellers 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.
Weaknesses Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vendedy Travellers, firm in the HBR case study Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Vendedy Travellers 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. Vendedy Travellers 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Vendedy Travellers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy Travellers 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy Travellers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Vendedy Travellers 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Vendedy Travellers 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vendedy Travellers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Vendedy Travellers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vendedy Travellers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Vendedy Travellers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Vendedy Travellers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Vendedy Travellers 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.
Opportunities Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket | 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vendedy Travellers 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Vendedy Travellers 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.
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. Vendedy Travellers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vendedy Travellers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy Travellers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Vendedy Travellers 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Vendedy Travellers 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, Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vendedy Travellers 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.
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 Vendedy Travellers in the consumer business. Now Vendedy Travellers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vendedy Travellers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Vendedy Travellers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket case study. Vendedy Travellers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Vendedy Travellers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vendedy Travellers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vendedy Travellers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vendedy Travellers is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket .
Increasing wage structure of Vendedy Travellers
– 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 Vendedy Travellers.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Vendedy Travellers 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Vendedy Travellers 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.
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 Vendedy Travellers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Vendedy Travellers 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.
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. Vendedy Travellers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Vendedy Travellers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vendedy Travellers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vendedy Travellers 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 Vendedy Travellers 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vendedy Travellers 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy: The World's Street Markets in Your Pocket 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 Vendedy Travellers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.