Case Study Description of Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament
This B2B role play case and the six role play supplements describe an account manager's seven month sales process and the customer's buying process that led to a lost order. It is an excellent case to explore organizational buying behaviour, the discipline of the selling process and the management of sales resources (time) as an asset. It can be included in an introductory marketing course at the MBA or undergraduate level. It is equally effective for executive development. It also fits in a B2B marketing course to explore organizational buying behaviour, or in the introduction module in a sales management course.
Swot Analysis of "Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament" written by Michael Taylor includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Buying Behaviour facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Buying Behaviour, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Buying Behaviour 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Buying Behaviour
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 Buying Behaviour
Strengths Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Buying Behaviour in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Buying Behaviour is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Buying Behaviour has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Buying Behaviour to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Buying Behaviour to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Buying Behaviour to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Buying Behaviour
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Buying Behaviour does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Buying Behaviour has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Learning organization
- Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Analytics focus
– Buying Behaviour 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 Michael Taylor 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Buying Behaviour 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Buying Behaviour digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Buying Behaviour 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Buying Behaviour is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Buying Behaviour 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Taylor suggests that, Buying Behaviour 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Buying Behaviour is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Buying Behaviour 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Buying Behaviour is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Buying Behaviour is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Buying Behaviour needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Buying Behaviour to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Buying Behaviour 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Buying Behaviour 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 - Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Buying Behaviour supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Buying Behaviour vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament, is just above the industry average. Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour, firm in the HBR case study Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament | 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Buying Behaviour 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, Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Buying Behaviour 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Buying Behaviour 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Buying Behaviour has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Buying Behaviour to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament case study. Buying Behaviour can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Buying Behaviour can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Buying Behaviour can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Buying Behaviour operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Buying Behaviour in the consumer business. Now Buying Behaviour can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Buying Behaviour 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Buying Behaviour 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Buying Behaviour 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Buying Behaviour 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Buying Behaviour is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Threats Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Buying Behaviour 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 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.
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 Buying Behaviour business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Buying Behaviour 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour 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.
Increasing wage structure of Buying Behaviour
– 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 Buying Behaviour.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Buying Behaviour with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Buying Behaviour has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Buying Behaviour 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Buying Behaviour in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Buying Behaviour is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Buying Behaviour in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Reliable Equipment Ltd.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Buying Behaviour needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
