The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup
The Vanca, an online apparel brand and supplier to online retailers ("e-tailers") has achieved a fair degree of success by focusing on quality, innovative designs, "fast fashion" and a strong network with its customers. Management is looking to grow the business further; however, there are challenges such as uneven sales across some of its product ranges, maintaining its competitive edge and the threat from private labels being introduced by the industry's three largest e-tailers. The Vanca's chief executive officer, a successful entrepreneur, has called a meeting to consider these challenges and to prepare the company's next growth model. Jones Mathew is affiliated with Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB). Pinaki Dasgupta is affiliated with International Management Institute.
Swot Analysis of "The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup" written by Jones Mathew, Pinaki Dasgupta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Vanca Tailers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vanca Tailers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vanca Tailers
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 Vanca Tailers
Strengths The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vanca Tailers in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vanca Tailers 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca Tailers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Vanca Tailers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Vanca Tailers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Vanca Tailers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Vanca Tailers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca Tailers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Vanca Tailers in the sector have low bargaining power. The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Vanca Tailers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Vanca Tailers has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Vanca Tailers to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vanca Tailers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vanca Tailers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Vanca Tailers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Vanca Tailers 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.
Weaknesses The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Vanca Tailers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca Tailers 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Vanca Tailers, firm in the HBR case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vanca Tailers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Vanca Tailers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vanca Tailers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jones Mathew, Pinaki Dasgupta suggests that, Vanca Tailers 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.
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 Vanca Tailers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Vanca Tailers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Vanca Tailers 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup, it seems that the employees of Vanca Tailers 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Vanca Tailers 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup HBR case study mentions - Vanca Tailers 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca Tailers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup | 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vanca Tailers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vanca Tailers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vanca Tailers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Vanca Tailers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup case study. Vanca Tailers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Vanca Tailers 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Vanca Tailers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Vanca Tailers 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Vanca Tailers 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Vanca Tailers 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Vanca Tailers to increase its market reach. Vanca Tailers 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Vanca Tailers 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.
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. Vanca Tailers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Vanca Tailers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Vanca Tailers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vanca Tailers 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.
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. Vanca Tailers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca Tailers 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.
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 Vanca Tailers
– 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 Vanca Tailers.
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 Vanca Tailers in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Vanca Tailers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup, Vanca Tailers 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Vanca Tailers 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.
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. Vanca Tailers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Vanca Tailers 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 The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup 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 Vanca Tailers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
