Case Study Description of eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore
The eHomemakers project was founded in 1998 to provide skills and employment for disadvantaged women in Malaysia. The women worked from home, weaving baskets out of recycled magazines from which they could generate income. This means of self-support was particularly beneficial to stay-at-home mothers and disabled women who were unable to work. By 2011, the enterprise was struggling for viability in Malaysia, which led the founder to consider crossing the border to Singapore to explore opportunities in that country to avoid having to give up on her social enterprise altogether. Pei Chuan Wu is affiliated with National University of Singapore. Albert Chu Ying Teo is affiliated with National University of Singapore. Ming Hao Wong is affiliated with National University of Singapore.
Authors :: Pei Chuan Wu, Albert Chu Ying Teo, Ming Hao Wong
Swot Analysis of "eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore" written by Pei Chuan Wu, Albert Chu Ying Teo, Ming Hao Wong includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Singapore Ehomemakers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Singapore Ehomemakers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Singapore Ehomemakers 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Singapore Ehomemakers
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 Singapore Ehomemakers
Strengths eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Singapore Ehomemakers in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Singapore Ehomemakers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Singapore Ehomemakers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Singapore Ehomemakers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Learning organization
- Singapore Ehomemakers 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 Singapore Ehomemakers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Singapore Ehomemakers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Singapore Ehomemakers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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 Pei Chuan Wu, Albert Chu Ying Teo, Ming Hao Wong 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Singapore Ehomemakers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Singapore Ehomemakers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore, in the dynamic environment Singapore Ehomemakers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Singapore Ehomemakers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Singapore Ehomemakers is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Singapore Ehomemakers 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 - eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Singapore Ehomemakers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Singapore Ehomemakers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Singapore Ehomemakers, firm in the HBR case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Singapore Ehomemakers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Singapore Ehomemakers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Singapore Ehomemakers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Singapore Ehomemakers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 Singapore Ehomemakers 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pei Chuan Wu, Albert Chu Ying Teo, Ming Hao Wong suggests that, Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Opportunities eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore | 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Singapore Ehomemakers can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Singapore Ehomemakers can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Singapore Ehomemakers to increase its market reach. Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Singapore Ehomemakers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Singapore Ehomemakers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Singapore Ehomemakers 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 Singapore Ehomemakers in the consumer business. Now Singapore Ehomemakers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Singapore Ehomemakers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
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 Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Singapore Ehomemakers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Threats eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore are -
Increasing wage structure of Singapore Ehomemakers
– 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 Singapore Ehomemakers.
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 Singapore Ehomemakers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Singapore Ehomemakers needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Singapore Ehomemakers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Singapore Ehomemakers in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Singapore Ehomemakers 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, Singapore Ehomemakers 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
Environmental challenges
– Singapore Ehomemakers 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. Singapore Ehomemakers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Singapore Ehomemakers 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.
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.
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 Singapore Ehomemakers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 eHomemakers: Crossing Borders into Singapore 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 Singapore Ehomemakers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.