Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia
Coach U is a virtual training firm offering "coaching" to individuals, teams, and corporations through teleclasses conducted via conference calls. Coaching is a relatively new management style that empowers targets to discover and implement actions geared to achieving particular career, personal, or lifestyle goals and objectives. Coach U succeeded in delivering coaching services in the United States but wanted to penetrate Asia. The prevailing management attitude, particularly in Asia, focused on control, order, and compliance with the consequence that people become objectified, measured, and expended. Coach U's approach and content are rooted in the American style of management, which is a challenge when applied to the Asian market. This case discusses Coach U's business model and how it could be profitable in Asia, as well as the need to modify Coach U's existing model for the Asian target market. Also deals with how the web could be used to replace teleclasses as the delivery mechanism, what web model could be built, and which technologies could be incorporated to improve customer interactions.
Swot Analysis of "Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia" written by Julie Yu, Marissa McCauley, Shamza Khan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Coach U's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices,
there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Coach U's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Coach U'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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Coach U's
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 Coach U's
Strengths Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Coach U's in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Coach U'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 Julie Yu, Marissa McCauley, Shamza Khan 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 Coach U's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Coach U's 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 Coach U's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Coach U's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Coach U'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 Coach U's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Coach U's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Coach U's in the sector have low bargaining power. Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Coach U's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Coach U's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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.
High brand equity
– Coach U's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Coach U's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Coach U's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Coach U's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Coach U's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia HBR case study mentions - Coach U's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U's 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Coach U's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Coach U'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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia, is just above the industry average. Coach U'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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Coach U's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Coach U's, firm in the HBR case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Coach U's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Coach U's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Coach U's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Coach U'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 - Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Coach U'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.
Opportunities Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia | 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Coach U's 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.
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 Coach U's in the consumer business. Now Coach U's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Coach U'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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Coach U's to increase its market reach. Coach U's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Coach U's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Coach U'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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Manufacturing automation
– Coach U's 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Coach U's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Coach U's 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 Coach U's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Coach U'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 Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Coach U's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Coach U'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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Coach U's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Coach U's 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.
Threats Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia are -
Regulatory challenges
– Coach U'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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Coach U's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Coach U'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. Coach U's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Coach U's 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia .
Increasing wage structure of Coach U'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 Coach U's.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Coach U's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Coach U's.
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 Coach U's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Coach U's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Coach U'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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Coach U's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Coach U's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Coach U'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.
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. Coach U's 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U: Building a Soft Skill On-Line Business in Asia 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 Coach U's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.