Swot Analysis of "MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process" written by Gregory S. Miller, Michael D. Kimbrough includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mandalay Mirage's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Market research, Mergers & acquisitions, Strategic planning and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mandalay Mirage's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mandalay Mirage's 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mandalay Mirage's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mandalay Mirage's
Strengths MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mandalay Mirage's in MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mandalay Mirage's in the sector have low bargaining power. MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mandalay Mirage's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mandalay Mirage's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mandalay Mirage's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mandalay Mirage's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mandalay Mirage's 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Mandalay Mirage's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mandalay Mirage's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Mandalay Mirage's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mandalay Mirage's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mandalay Mirage's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High brand equity
– Mandalay Mirage's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mandalay Mirage's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Mandalay Mirage's 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 Mandalay Mirage's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Mandalay Mirage's 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 Gregory S. Miller, Michael D. Kimbrough 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.
Weaknesses MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mandalay Mirage's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mandalay Mirage's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mandalay Mirage's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Mandalay Mirage's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mandalay Mirage's 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. Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mandalay Mirage's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Mandalay Mirage's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mandalay Mirage's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gregory S. Miller, Michael D. Kimbrough suggests that, Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process, is just above the industry average. Mandalay Mirage's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mandalay Mirage's 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 - MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process | 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mandalay Mirage's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mandalay Mirage's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mandalay Mirage's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mandalay Mirage's 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mandalay Mirage's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mandalay Mirage's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mandalay Mirage's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process case study. Mandalay Mirage's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mandalay Mirage's 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, MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mandalay Mirage's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mandalay Mirage's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communication segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mandalay Mirage's 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 Communication segment.
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 Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mandalay Mirage's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mandalay Mirage's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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.
Threats MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process are -
Environmental challenges
– Mandalay Mirage's 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. Mandalay Mirage's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mandalay Mirage's is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Mandalay Mirage's
– 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 Mandalay Mirage's.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mandalay Mirage's in the Communication industry. The Communication 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.
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. Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mandalay Mirage's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mandalay Mirage's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mandalay Mirage's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mandalay Mirage's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mandalay Mirage's in the Communication 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Mandalay Mirage's 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 Communication industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 MGM Mirage's Bid for Mandalay Resort Group (B): Communicating During the Merger Process 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 Mandalay Mirage's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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