V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down
This is information for one of the six roles to be used in the V-Cola negotiation exercise. Please see V-Cola General Instructions (912043) and Teaching note (912042) for full information.
Swot Analysis of "V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down" written by Ian I. Larkin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cola Instructions facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Knowledge management, Marketing, Negotiations, Risk management and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cola Instructions, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cola Instructions 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cola Instructions
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 Cola Instructions
Strengths V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cola Instructions in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cola Instructions is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 Communication field
– Cola Instructions 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 Cola Instructions in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Cola Instructions has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cola Instructions to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Cola Instructions 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 Cola Instructions is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cola Instructions 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cola Instructions has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cola Instructions 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.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cola Instructions digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cola Instructions 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cola Instructions in the sector have low bargaining power. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cola Instructions to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cola Instructions has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cola Instructions 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cola Instructions to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cola Instructions to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down HBR case study mentions - Cola Instructions 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ian I. Larkin suggests that, Cola Instructions 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cola Instructions 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Communication 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, it seems that the employees of Cola Instructions 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, in the dynamic environment Cola Instructions has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cola Instructions has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cola Instructions 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. Cola Instructions 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 Cola Instructions 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cola Instructions 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cola Instructions is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Cola Instructions needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cola Instructions to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, is just above the industry average. Cola Instructions 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.
Opportunities V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down | 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cola Instructions 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, V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cola Instructions 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cola Instructions can develop new processes and procedures in Communication industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Cola Instructions can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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.
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. Cola Instructions can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cola Instructions 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cola Instructions 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cola Instructions to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cola Instructions can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cola Instructions can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cola Instructions operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cola Instructions is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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, Cola Instructions 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cola Instructions 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.
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 Cola Instructions in the consumer business. Now Cola Instructions can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cola Instructions 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cola Instructions 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cola Instructions 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. Cola Instructions needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Cola Instructions
– 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 Cola Instructions.
Environmental challenges
– Cola Instructions 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. Cola Instructions can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
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 Cola Instructions in the Communication 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 Cola Instructions business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cola Instructions 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cola Instructions is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cola Instructions has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cola Instructions 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.
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 Cola Instructions.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down, Cola Instructions may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Price Down 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 Cola Instructions needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.