Sales forecasting is needed for planning. This case describes a situation in which monthly sales forecasts can be produced using very elementary methods. The case may be used as an introduction to this topic. Ideally, it should be followed by other cases in which more advanced methods should be employed. The objective of the case is to illustrate a simple forecasting method for monthly sales data. The data set, supplied in an Excel file (jiawu-aus-data.xls), contains the total sales of household goods in Australia, covering the period from January 1995 to December 2009. Students are expected to produce a monthly forecast for 2010, based on a trend and a collection of seasonal effects. Basic knowledge of Excel or an analogous open source spreadsheet application is required. It is assumed that the calculations will be performed using standard spreadsheet functions.
Authors :: Ines Alegre Tort-Martorell, Miguel Angel Canela Campos
Swot Analysis of "The Jia Wu Expansion" written by Ines Alegre Tort-Martorell, Miguel Angel Canela Campos includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Monthly Spreadsheet facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Jia Wu Expansion case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sales and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Jia Wu Expansion casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing energy prices, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Jia Wu Expansion
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Jia Wu Expansion case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Monthly Spreadsheet, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Monthly Spreadsheet 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 The Jia Wu Expansion can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Jia Wu Expansion case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Monthly Spreadsheet
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 Monthly Spreadsheet
Strengths The Jia Wu Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Monthly Spreadsheet in The Jia Wu Expansion Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Monthly Spreadsheet 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 Monthly Spreadsheet is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Jia Wu Expansion Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Monthly Spreadsheet is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Jia Wu Expansion 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Jia Wu Expansion 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Monthly Spreadsheet is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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 The Jia Wu Expansion HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Jia Wu Expansion firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Monthly Spreadsheet to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Monthly Spreadsheet to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Monthly Spreadsheet digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Analytics focus
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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 Ines Alegre Tort-Martorell, Miguel Angel Canela Campos 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.
High brand equity
– Monthly Spreadsheet has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Monthly Spreadsheet to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Monthly Spreadsheet is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Jia Wu Expansion Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Monthly Spreadsheet is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Jia Wu Expansion are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Monthly Spreadsheet in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The Jia Wu Expansion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Jia Wu Expansion are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ines Alegre Tort-Martorell, Miguel Angel Canela Campos suggests that, Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Monthly Spreadsheet 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
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Monthly Spreadsheet 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 Monthly Spreadsheet 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 - The Jia Wu Expansion should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Monthly Spreadsheet is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Jia Wu Expansion can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Jia Wu Expansion 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 Monthly Spreadsheet has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Jia Wu Expansion 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 Monthly Spreadsheet 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Monthly Spreadsheet is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Monthly Spreadsheet needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Monthly Spreadsheet to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Monthly Spreadsheet 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. Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Opportunities The Jia Wu Expansion | 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 The Jia Wu Expansion are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Monthly Spreadsheet can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Monthly Spreadsheet can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Monthly Spreadsheet can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Monthly Spreadsheet has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Monthly Spreadsheet to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Jia Wu Expansion case study. Monthly Spreadsheet can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Monthly Spreadsheet 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, The Jia Wu Expansion, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Monthly Spreadsheet can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Monthly Spreadsheet can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Jia Wu Expansion 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Monthly Spreadsheet 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 Monthly Spreadsheet to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats The Jia Wu Expansion External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Jia Wu Expansion are -
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 Monthly Spreadsheet in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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. Monthly Spreadsheet can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Monthly Spreadsheet with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Monthly Spreadsheet business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Monthly Spreadsheet is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Jia Wu Expansion, Monthly Spreadsheet 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 .
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. Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
Increasing wage structure of Monthly Spreadsheet
– 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 Monthly Spreadsheet.
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
– Monthly Spreadsheet 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.
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. Monthly Spreadsheet can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Jia Wu Expansion 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 The Jia Wu Expansion 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 The Jia Wu Expansion 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 The Jia Wu Expansion 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 The Jia Wu Expansion 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 Monthly Spreadsheet needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
