Case Study Description of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant
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 Connie Sultant" written by Ian I. Larkin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cola Sultant facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant
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 Connie Sultant case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cola Sultant, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cola Sultant 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 Connie Sultant can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cola Sultant
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 Sultant
Strengths V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cola Sultant in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Cola Sultant is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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.
Organizational Resilience of Cola Sultant
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cola Sultant does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cola Sultant has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cola Sultant 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cola Sultant is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cola Sultant in the sector have low bargaining power. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cola Sultant to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Cola Sultant 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 Sultant in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cola Sultant is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cola Sultant 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Cola Sultant 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 Ian I. Larkin can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cola Sultant in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Cola Sultant 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 Sultant is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cola Sultant 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cola Sultant has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cola Sultant 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cola Sultant has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cola Sultant 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.
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 Cola Sultant supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cola Sultant vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cola Sultant is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant, in the dynamic environment Cola Sultant has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cola Sultant has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cola Sultant 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 Sultant 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cola Sultant products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cola Sultant needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant | 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 Connie Sultant are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cola Sultant can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cola Sultant is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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.
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 Sultant can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cola Sultant operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cola Sultant 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 Connie Sultant - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cola Sultant to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cola Sultant 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cola Sultant 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 Cola Sultant to increase its market reach. Cola Sultant 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cola Sultant 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 Connie Sultant, 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 Sultant 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cola Sultant can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cola Sultant 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cola Sultant 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cola Sultant 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.
Threats V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant are -
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 Cola Sultant in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Cola Sultant 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 Communication industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cola Sultant 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.
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 Sultant.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cola Sultant with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Cola Sultant
– 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 Sultant.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cola Sultant 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant .
Environmental challenges
– Cola Sultant 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 Sultant can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cola Sultant demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Cola Sultant needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cola Sultant 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cola Sultant has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cola Sultant 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant 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 Connie Sultant 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 Sultant needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
