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 energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vanca Tailers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Vanca Tailers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Vanca Tailers 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 The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup - 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
– Vanca Tailers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vanca Tailers 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.
Analytics focus
– Vanca Tailers 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 Jones Mathew, Pinaki Dasgupta 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 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 -
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.
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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Vanca Tailers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Vanca Tailers 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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Vanca Tailers is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup, 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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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 Vanca Tailers in the consumer business. Now Vanca Tailers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Vanca Tailers 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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vanca Tailers 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 The Vanca: Dilemmas of an E-commerce Entrepreneurial Startup - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vanca Tailers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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. Vanca Tailers 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. Vanca Tailers 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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Vanca Tailers 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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 .
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 Vanca Tailers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Vanca Tailers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Vanca Tailers 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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Vanca Tailers 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.
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 .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Vanca Tailers 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
– Vanca Tailers 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 Vanca Tailers 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 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.
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.
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.