The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand
In late 2015, developments in the Canadian television industry led the incumbent players to reconsider their traditional distribution strategies. The conflux of changes to technology, regulatory reforms, and consumption patterns was complicated by the entry of new players, forcing established firms to consider revising their business models. The regulated oligopolistic industry structure that once protected the players and ensured superior performance was under attack from many directions. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulated the incumbent players, was pushing for reforms, yet the ramifications of such changes remained unclear. The incumbents responded to the advent of subscription video on demand services that were enabled by widespread high-speed Internet access, the entry of new non-traditional competitors, and changing regulations. How would the industry evolve? What was the role of the regulator? How would customers respond to the new delivery options? How would the incumbent firms, the regulator, technology providers, and content developers and providers reconcile their ambiguous relationships?
Swot Analysis of "The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand" written by Adam Fremeth, Rod E. White, Kartik Rao includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Incumbent Players facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Incumbent Players, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Incumbent Players 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Incumbent Players
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 Incumbent Players
Strengths The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Incumbent Players in The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Incumbent Players 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 Incumbent Players in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Incumbent Players 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Incumbent Players has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Incumbent Players 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 Incumbent Players digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Incumbent Players 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 Incumbent Players in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Incumbent Players 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 Adam Fremeth, Rod E. White, Kartik Rao 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Incumbent Players 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.
Organizational Resilience of Incumbent Players
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Incumbent Players does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Incumbent Players to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Incumbent Players to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Incumbent Players 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.
Learning organization
- Incumbent Players 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 Incumbent Players is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand, it seems that the employees of Incumbent Players don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 Incumbent Players has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Incumbent Players products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Incumbent Players needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Incumbent Players is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Incumbent Players needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Incumbent Players to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Incumbent Players needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Incumbent Players is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand HBR case study mentions - Incumbent Players 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Incumbent Players 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Incumbent Players 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 - The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Incumbent Players is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand | 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Incumbent Players 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
– Incumbent Players 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Incumbent Players can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Incumbent Players 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.
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. Incumbent Players can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Incumbent Players can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Incumbent Players operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Incumbent Players 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.
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. Incumbent Players 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. Incumbent Players 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Incumbent Players 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Incumbent Players has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Incumbent Players to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand case study. Incumbent Players can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Incumbent Players in the consumer business. Now Incumbent Players can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Incumbent Players 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Incumbent Players 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, The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Incumbent Players can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Incumbent Players.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Incumbent Players has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Incumbent Players 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.
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 Incumbent Players business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Incumbent Players 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Incumbent Players 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Incumbent Players
– 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 Incumbent Players.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand, Incumbent Players 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Incumbent Players 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.
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 Incumbent Players in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Incumbent Players needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 The Canadian Television Industry Confronts Subscription Video on Demand 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 Incumbent Players needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
