Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille
In the fall of 2013, the family-owned Martin Bauer Group, a German-based company and world leader in the business-to-business market for tea and herbal extracts, became interested in the idea of collaborating with the frugal innovation company EinDollarBrille (OneDollarGlasses). The Martin Bauer Group was engaged in multifaceted corporate social responsibility activities, both domestically and abroad. Specifically, it fostered the development and diffusion of frugal innovations, which were affordable products or services developed under strict financial constraints to cater to low-income individuals in emerging markets. These companies usually worked in collaboration with partners. One such frugal innovation company, OneDollarGlasses, created durable, yet affordable, eyeglasses for people in the African country of Sudan, a prime sourcing market for the Martin Bauer Group. The work of OneDollarGlasses illustrated the reasons, motivations, and challenges that innovators often faced within developed and emerging markets when engaging in corporate social responsibility activities. Should The Martin Bauer Group work with OneDollarGlasses? Could the company be helpful and make a meaningful difference to the people in emerging markets by collaborating with frugal innovators like OneDollarGlasses? What benefits would there be for the Martin Bauer Group if they do? Peter M. Bican is affiliated with WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management.
Authors :: Carsten Guderian, Peter M. Bican
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, International business, Public relations, Strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille" written by Carsten Guderian, Peter M. Bican includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Onedollarglasses Bauer facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, International business, Public relations, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Onedollarglasses Bauer, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Onedollarglasses Bauer
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 Onedollarglasses Bauer
Strengths Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Onedollarglasses Bauer in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Onedollarglasses Bauer is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Onedollarglasses Bauer digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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
– Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Onedollarglasses Bauer to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Onedollarglasses Bauer to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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.
Organizational Resilience of Onedollarglasses Bauer
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Onedollarglasses Bauer does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Onedollarglasses Bauer in the sector have low bargaining power. Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Onedollarglasses Bauer to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
High brand equity
– Onedollarglasses Bauer has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Onedollarglasses Bauer to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Onedollarglasses Bauer has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Training and development
– Onedollarglasses Bauer has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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.
Weaknesses Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 - Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Onedollarglasses Bauer products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille, in the dynamic environment Onedollarglasses Bauer has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Onedollarglasses Bauer has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Carsten Guderian, Peter M. Bican suggests that, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Onedollarglasses Bauer has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High dependence on 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 Onedollarglasses Bauer supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Onedollarglasses Bauer vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Onedollarglasses Bauer is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Opportunities Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille | 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille are -
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. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Onedollarglasses Bauer can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Onedollarglasses Bauer operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Onedollarglasses Bauer to increase its market reach. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
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 Onedollarglasses Bauer in the consumer business. Now Onedollarglasses Bauer can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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, Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Onedollarglasses Bauer can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Onedollarglasses Bauer to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Onedollarglasses Bauer to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Threats Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille are -
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. Onedollarglasses Bauer needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Onedollarglasses Bauer with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
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 Onedollarglasses Bauer in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Onedollarglasses Bauer 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Onedollarglasses Bauer is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Onedollarglasses Bauer in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Onedollarglasses Bauer business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Increasing wage structure of Onedollarglasses Bauer
– 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 Onedollarglasses Bauer.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
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. Onedollarglasses Bauer 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Martin Bauer Group: Corporate Social Responsibility with EinDollarBrille 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 Onedollarglasses Bauer needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.