MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B)
MacAfee Building Supply, a distributor of building supplies and heating and plumbing products, had grown to become the largest company of its kind in the world by incentivizing profit-maximizing behavior at the local level. John Smith, a senior manager at the company's Build subdivision, had nevertheless grown concerned that MacAfee's incentive scheme, which incentivized profits at the branch level, was actually hindering long-term global profitability by creating a lack of cooperation among branches and discouraging branch manager's investment in long-term endeavors. In this three-part case students first recommend strategies for better aligning employees to a long-term focus, and then evaluate the results of the program the company selected.
Authors :: Ann Bartel, Rachel Griffith, Maria Guadalupe, Andrew Neely
Swot Analysis of "MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B)" written by Ann Bartel, Rachel Griffith, Maria Guadalupe, Andrew Neely includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Macafee Branch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Balanced scorecard, Employee retention, Motivating people and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Macafee Branch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Macafee Branch
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 Macafee Branch
Strengths MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Macafee Branch in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Macafee Branch has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Macafee Branch 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Macafee Branch 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.
Learning organization
- Macafee Branch 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 Macafee Branch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Macafee Branch
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Macafee Branch 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 Macafee Branch in the sector have low bargaining power. MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Macafee Branch to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Macafee Branch has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Macafee Branch to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Macafee Branch is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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
– Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Macafee Branch is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Macafee Branch has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Macafee Branch has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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.
Weaknesses MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Macafee Branch is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Macafee Branch is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B), in the dynamic environment Macafee Branch has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 Macafee Branch 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Macafee Branch 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. Macafee Branch 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Macafee Branch needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Macafee Branch has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Macafee Branch 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 Macafee Branch supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Macafee Branch vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Macafee Branch 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 - MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Macafee Branch is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Macafee Branch needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Macafee Branch to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) | 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Macafee Branch 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Macafee Branch is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Macafee Branch to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Macafee Branch 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, MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Macafee Branch 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. Macafee Branch 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.
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 Macafee Branch 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Macafee Branch 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 Macafee Branch to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Macafee Branch 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.
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. Macafee Branch can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Macafee Branch can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Macafee Branch to increase its market reach. Macafee Branch 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.
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 Macafee Branch in the consumer business. Now Macafee Branch can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Macafee Branch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Macafee Branch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) case study. Macafee Branch can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) are -
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 Macafee Branch business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Macafee Branch 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) .
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 Macafee Branch.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Macafee Branch 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.
Increasing wage structure of Macafee Branch
– 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 Macafee Branch.
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 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. Macafee Branch needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Macafee Branch is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Macafee Branch has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Macafee Branch 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.
Environmental challenges
– Macafee Branch 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. Macafee Branch can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Macafee Branch in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Macafee Branch 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 MacAfee Building Supply: Improving Performance Across Retail Stores (B) 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 Macafee Branch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
