Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models
The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union are two sporting organizations that have innovated through their business models to grow their sports, create world-class sport facilities and improve their ability to win European competitions. Yet they reside in one of the smallest countries in Europe - Ireland. While the Gaelic Athletic Association is a volunteer organization whose amateur status (in which players and coaches are unpaid) imposes significant limitations on its revenue-generating abilities, the professional Irish Rugby Football Union has earned substantial income through the success of provincial and national Irish rugby teams. Both organizations compete for scarce financial, physical and human resources and are now faced with a rapidly changing environment following the deepest recession in the history of the Irish Republic and emigration of talent abroad. This case challenges students to analyze the business models of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union and explore how the models can be innovated to ensure survival of these cultural assets for the next generation. Peter McNamara, Olga Ryazanova, Fionn Collins, and David Aherne are affiliated with University College Dublin.
Authors :: Peter McNamara, Olga Ryazanova, Fionn Collins, David Aherne
Swot Analysis of "Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models" written by Peter McNamara, Olga Ryazanova, Fionn Collins, David Aherne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Irish Rugby facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Irish Rugby, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Irish Rugby 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Irish Rugby
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 Irish Rugby
Strengths Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Irish Rugby in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Irish Rugby 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 Peter McNamara, Olga Ryazanova, Fionn Collins, David Aherne 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Irish Rugby in the sector have low bargaining power. Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Irish Rugby to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Irish Rugby 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Irish Rugby has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Irish Rugby 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 Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Irish Rugby digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Irish Rugby 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Irish Rugby is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Irish Rugby 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Irish Rugby 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 recruit top talent
– Irish Rugby is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Irish Rugby has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Irish Rugby 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 Irish Rugby in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Irish Rugby, firm in the HBR case study Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Irish Rugby 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Irish Rugby 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Irish Rugby products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Irish Rugby needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter McNamara, Olga Ryazanova, Fionn Collins, David Aherne suggests that, Irish Rugby 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Irish Rugby is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Irish Rugby needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Irish Rugby to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Irish Rugby 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models HBR case study mentions - Irish Rugby 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 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 Irish Rugby supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Irish Rugby vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Irish Rugby is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models, is just above the industry average. Irish Rugby 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models | 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Irish Rugby 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 Irish Rugby to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Irish Rugby 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Irish Rugby has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Irish Rugby to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models case study. Irish Rugby can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Irish Rugby 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Irish Rugby 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Irish Rugby to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Irish Rugby is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Irish Rugby 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Irish Rugby 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Irish Rugby can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Irish Rugby operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Irish Rugby 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Irish Rugby 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 Irish Rugby to increase its market reach. Irish Rugby 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Irish Rugby to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models are -
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 Irish Rugby.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Irish Rugby 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Irish Rugby has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Irish Rugby 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Irish Rugby 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models .
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. Irish Rugby can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Irish Rugby 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 Irish Rugby business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Irish Rugby with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Irish Rugby 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Irish Rugby 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.
Environmental challenges
– Irish Rugby 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. Irish Rugby can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models, Irish Rugby 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 .
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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Rugby Football Union: Competing Business Models 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 Irish Rugby needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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