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V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman


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.

Authors :: Ian I. Larkin

Topics :: Communication

Tags :: Knowledge management, Marketing, Negotiations, Risk management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman" written by Ian I. Larkin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cola Adman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman


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 Cash Adman case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cola Adman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cola Adman 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 Cash Adman can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cola Adman
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 Adman




Strengths V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cola Adman in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Cola Adman is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cola Adman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cola Adman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Cola Adman is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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

– Cola Adman has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Cola Adman 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.

Analytics focus

– Cola Adman 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cola Adman 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 V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Learning organization

- Cola Adman 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 Adman is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of Cola Adman

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cola Adman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Cola Adman in the sector have low bargaining power. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cola Adman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Cola Adman has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cola Adman 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.






Weaknesses V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cola Adman 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 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 Adman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cola Adman vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Cola Adman 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 star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cola Adman has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman, in the dynamic environment Cola Adman has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cola Adman has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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 Adman 's lucrative customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Cola Adman is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Cola Adman needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cola Adman 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 Cash Adman, is just above the industry average. Cola Adman 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Cola Adman, firm in the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ian I. Larkin suggests that, Cola Adman 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman, 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.




Opportunities V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman | 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 Cash Adman are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cola Adman can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cola Adman operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Cola Adman 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, Cola Adman 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cola Adman 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 Cola Adman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cola Adman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cola Adman 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Cola Adman 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.

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 Adman in the consumer business. Now Cola Adman can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cola Adman can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Cola Adman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cola Adman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman case study. Cola Adman can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cola Adman to increase its market reach. Cola Adman 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 Adman 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 Cash Adman, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Cola Adman 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 Cash Adman - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cola Adman to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.




Threats V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman are -

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 Adman needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Cash Adman, Cola Adman 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 .

Regulatory challenges

– Cola Adman 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.

Increasing wage structure of Cola Adman

– 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 Adman.

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 Adman in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Cola Adman 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 Adman has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cola Adman 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.

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 Adman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cola Adman 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 Cash Adman .

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Cola Adman will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cola Adman can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cola Adman with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of V-Cola: Confidential Instructions for Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman 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 Cash Adman 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 Adman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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