Swot analysis of strategic management Case Studies

Estee Lauder SWOT Analysis case 1 Estee Lauder, based in New York City, is a manufacturer of cosmetic products that include skincare, makeup, fragrances, and hair products. The company was founded on 1946 by Mrs. Estee Lauder. Their mission statement: “Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch”. Some of the best known brands that are sold under its umbrella are Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series Skincare for Men, Origins, Tommy Hilfiger, M·A·C, Kiton, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Donna Karan, Aveda, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble, Michael Kors, Darphin, American Beauty, Flirt!, GoodSkin Labs, Grassroots Research Labs, Sean John, Missoni, Daisy Fuentes, Tom Ford, Coach, Ojon and Smashbox. Strengths: · Strong Brand Reputation (The brand is associated with luxury & quality. Also has a strong brand portfolio). · Research & Development (Role model and leader in identifying consumer needs, and preferences and developing products accordingly). · Strong Distribution Network (The products are sold to a limited stores that compliments the image of the brands such as department stores, upscale perfumeries, specialty stores, professional hairdressers etc. specially in U.S.) · Vigorous Revenue & Profitability (Net Earnings for fiscal year 2010 $478 million while Net sales were $7.8 billion.) · 31,000 employees working under its umbrella, full-time. (approximate value) · Products are sold in more than 150 countries. · Powerful marketing techniques used by the firm: Free Gift, Gift-With-Purchase, Makeup Artist Events (for trying out the new products) etc. · Breast Cancer Awareness program has been initiated that will work for the well being of the general public as well as the social stature of the firm sky rocketed, as both the awareness of the firm and Breast Cancer were going hand-in-hand. · Operations and cost maintenance with the firm holds a strong positive attitude in the long run. Weaknesses: · Lack of concentration regarding customer value (Client.) · Profit oriented (loses sight of the customer)

· Weak Liquidity Position (decline in the firm’s liquidity in the past few years.) · Distribution Network’s lack of reach to other viable markets. · Declining operating income in various market marks the weak penetration of the products in those specific markets. Opportunities: · New markets are emerging in various countries where the firm can inject its products, such as India, China (known to be the 2nd largest cosmetics market in Asia) etc. · Markets where wealthy rule is also a good opportunity to tap in because of the tendency of the wealthy to own luxury commodities. · Many nations are growing to be beauty conscience every passing day; the firm will do well in order to tap-in without any delay and initiate in order to get customer loyalty attached to its products. · Diversification of the distribution channels. · Expansion to global markets, worldwide. Threats: · Intense competition in cosmetics has increased and market initiators with quality providers are a serious threat to the firm. · New entrants, even though the market has considerably mature in the sense that it has captured customer loyalty, but there is always room for improvement in this field. · Counterfeit commodities affect the sales of the branded commodities. 9%, according to the Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting, of all the world trade comprises counterfeit goods. · Regulations are increasing due to the voicing of different groups about harmful chemical ingredients in cosmetic products.

Revlon. Case 2 from last few years. Product development is the main focus area for Revlon. Case 2 • Strong research and development.

• Revlon products are sold in more than 100 countries. • Revlon 43 percent sales are from United States market. • It has been supporting several health programs for Women. • Advertising is one of the key areas for Revlon. • Revlon aims to provide quality products. • Distribution channels are well managed that the reason Revlon products are used in more than 100 countries of the world. Weaknesses • Weak financial position due to net losses and heavy debts. • Cutting down number of jobs reduce employee trust on the Company. • Continuous changes in the Organizational Structure may impact the performance for employees. • Besides advertising other marketing areas are the weak. Opportunities • Revlon is currently facing financial problems so joint ventures or partnership with other players in the industry may open the doors of new opportunities. • Utilize all marketing methods to promote its products; it will help to boost the sales of the company. • Develop products for male segment. Threats • Intense competition with major players of the industry including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L’Oreal, • Rapid changes in fashion may require heavy budgets for product development & marketing. Revlon has to find some financial assistance to support its operation to sustain its position in the industry. • Revlon selling its products through websites but it haven’t made efforts to develop relations with the customers through online channels.

• Government instability and variation in exchange rate in few countries • Focused towards woman segment

Case 3 Krispy Kreme SWOT Analysis

Strengths • KKD produces approx 5.5 million doughnuts a day consisting of over 20 categories. • KKD doughnuts are available in super markets, grocery stores convenience stores, gas station, Wal-Mart and Target stores. • KKD has 395 stores with the presence in 40 states on USA and in 10 foreign countries. • KKD provides best quality doughnuts to the customers.

Weaknesses • Fall in revenues and profits since year 2008. • Major reduction in stock price after year 2005. • KKD profits are in negative. • Randomly closing and opening of new stores. • Weak business in International market. • Strong competition for Dunkin doughnuts and Starbucks. • Several lawsuits against the company in the past • Weak position in UK and Spain in term of revenues. • Franchising business is not doing well. • KKD does not have an updated register Uniform Franchise opening circular which prevents it from offering franchises to new franchisees.

Opportunities

• Joint ventures in other countries for expansion. • Entrance into new markets • Increase number of domestic stores • Improve franchise business • Opening of new stores in Japan and Spain and increase number of stores in the countries where they are currently operating. • People are becoming health conscious so KKD should find a way to reduce calories in existing products and offer something new to the customers

Threats • Majority of people in USA and UK are concerned about their weight. • People are well aware of the fact that sweet food contains more calories which will result in variety of diseases. • Strong competitors domestically and internationally

Coca Cola SWOT Analysis

Strengths • The Coca Cola sells beverages in around 200 countries.

• Coca Cola have number of variants. • It Have brand awareness in the world. • Coca Cola Logo is very famous among the people • Strong marketing and advertising • Coca Cola was the first commercial sponsor of Olympic Games and it has been sponsoring the FIFA and cricket world cup events. • Coca Cola has been featured in movies such as The Coca Cola Kid; God must be crazy and others. • People like the taste and quality of Coca Cola around the world. • Strong Financial reserves and returns

Weaknesses • Customers are not being able to differentiate among few brands such as Coca Cola Zero and Diet. • It high relies on Coca Cola drink only. • Most of the beverages supply is restricted to few countries. • Lack of innovation.

Opportunities • Innovation • Overtake competitors • Launch healthy drinks • Increase mineral water sales • Increase Awareness programs • Launch other coca cola variants in the untapped countries.

Threats • Intense competition from Pepsi • New entrants are gaining market share. • Decrease in Coca Cola brand value in last few years. • It has some negative health effect. • Ongoing recession • Economy instability in third world countries • Political instability in few countries

HP – Hewlett Packard SWOT Analysis

Strengths Hewlett-Packard’s primary strength is its business position. The enterprise has a large amount of cash in hand about $10 billion. Hewlett-Packard is a global enterprise and especially after its merger with Compaq, the company became world’s biggest computer hardware and peripherals consort in the world and has ranked 20th in the Fortune 500 list. Hewlett Packard is operating in more than 170 countries including both developed as well as under-developed. Being a global dealer of computer hardware, it gives HP many advantages like dominating printers market, both laser and inkjet. The company attracts and focuses on consumers from even newly found markets all around the world, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations etc. The company compete both at local and international level. It has increased its competitiveness through policies and strategies that supports free-market economies. This is one of the reasons that make HP a leading supplier in the growing IT markets. Hewlett Packard is said to have a complete product portfolio.

Weaknesses

The company was in a long term debt for many years which kept it from investing in different growth opportunities. A major problem and complaint about the hardware supplies of HP is its touch pads. The touch pads of the notebooks of Hewlett Packard like the dv series, dm3, and Envy lines needs improvement. These touch pads are either finicky, unreliable, or are difficult to use because of friction. The mouse buttons on various HP supplied machines are said to be clumsy to use, too. Poor shelling life of HP products plagued some mainstream systems and net books. When it comes to Software that HP provides there are also some weaknesses. Some heavy software’s were paired with slow hardware like Touch Smart. The past acquisition of Peregrine made the HP’s portfolio even more diverse and complete but HP Open View’s lack of mainframe management capabilities created several problems. Another weakness was that it did not yet hit a CMDB product that includes discovery and mapping. This cause many customers to switch the brand.

Opportunities The recent acquisition of EDS puts HP at a strong position in the computer market and makes it portfolio more impressive. Hewlett-Packard was able to generate large number of revenues and profits from its different deals and raised more than six billion which it can use to pay off its debts as well as invest in different research and development activities. If the products by the company are supplied at reasonable prices, there will be more chances of growth as the demand would increase. The company has formed Customer Solutions Group that helps in selling the complete IT solutions, products and services by HP.

Threats Operating in global market means many competitors and therefore, the company has to be at the forefront of changing technologies as well as addressing the changing customer demands and needs. The global economic recession is also a threat for the company’s sales and profits. The prices have also fallen as the stock markets are at historic low positions. Many other competitors including Dell are entering the printer business whereas IBM has become a market leader.

IBM – International Business Machines SWOT Analysis { Posted on Jun 02 2010 by adam | 7,142 views} Tags : free IBM swot Analysis, free swot analysis, IBM SWOT, IBM swot analysis, international business machine SWOT, swot analysis of IBM Categories : Information Technology 1Share

Strengths The Advanced business action management and innovative culture of IBM is one of its strengths. The successful strategic outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions of IBM are its strengths. High economical consummation centre and flexible marketing management of the company is the reason for its success. The creative service that International Business Machines provides is its strength. It is handling almost 95% of business tasks of top 1000 companies all over the world. The company have some of the world’s fastest important frame and many subverted technologies like: speech recognition software, chromatic gene, supercomputers etc. Through such extraordinary and innovative technologies IBM is able to wage some of the prizewinning back hand facilities. The most recent merge of IBM is with the Lenovo; Lenovo is providing the outer element profession and IBM providing all of its latest chip technology can result in greater success of the company. Today, IBM has entered a wide range of fields including Business continuity, snap services, End user services, integrated subject services, IT strategy and architecture services etc. The good will of the company along with its huge base of loyal customers is one of its greatest strengths.

Weaknesses At International Business Machines there are high costs involved in the value chain and also the company is dealing with some acquisition issues. Since, IBM spends quite a lot on its research and development where as the implementation of new processes is a little difficult. This is also because there are very few suppliers in the value chain o IBM and it can act as a loophole.

IBM has a good position in the market but needs to change its strategies with the change in market. This also causes the cost to the company to be greater as compared to other software and hardware dealers.

Opportunities The rising demand for wireless and internet services provides the company new opportunities to explore. There are many possible acquisitions and merger opportunities that the company can seize and increase its market share greatly. By making its distribution channels stronger and increasing its retail outlets and suppliers can result in more profits for the company. The rising energy prices and cost makes running and operations of the business difficult. IBM has addressed by making its strategy related to environment. With its green strategy it is able to save up to forty percent of energy costs.

Threats There are many competitors like HP, Dell, Accenture and Microsoft etc that have captured large segments of the market. The market has perfect competition state and switching cost is low for the customers. At IBM, there is a constant high threat of new substitutes as well as service switching. The technology market is very flexible, entry is easy and even small companies like Compaq can reduce the market share of IBM greatly. The global recession is a large threat for IBM. The company prices are higher as compared to other service providers in the same industry therefore; the IBM needs to take effective cost reduction strategies to deal with the unstable market conditions.

Ford Motors SWOT Analysis { Posted on Jul 15 2010 by adam | 7,874 views} Tags : Ford motors SWOT, ford opportunities, ford strengths, ford SWOT, ford SWOT analysis, ford threats, ford weaknesses, free swot, free swot analysis Categories : Automobile 1Share

Ford Motors is one of the leading and world’s best manufacturer in the world. Brand of Ford Automobile comprises of Ford, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lincoln, Volvo, Mercury & Land Rover. This company nearly manufactures as well as distributes to around 200 companies and thus gains more productivity. Ford motor is operating in around 100 offices in all over the world and thus contributing a lot in order to generate better outcomes. (Banham, Pg 272, 2002) Ford Motor’s productivity can be easily analyzed with the help of SWOT analysis. Below mentioned is the SWOT analysis of Ford Motors which tells us how this company works and what are it’s opportunities as well as threats.

Strengths • Ford Motors recorded the strongest as well as effective operation performance in 2005 • Ford motors is the second largest automobile manufacturer • Ford Motors is termed as one of the supportive tool after various attacks • Ford Motors is one of the best auto manufacturer which are offering credit services • Ford Europe along with PAG also known as premier automotive group also recorded the strongest revenue in year 2005 • Extensive supply chain is the leading and the best contributor towards the betterment of the company • Ford motor is termed as the best manufacturer in terms of diversity

Weaknesses • Due to the competition with the Japanese company, Ford Motors suffered a lot and thus went far away from fuel based light trucks • Due to the product recalls, Ford’s brand image was also harmed and thus the company suffered a lot • Cash reserves was ruined to around $4.1 Billion • Ford Motors stock prices suffered greatly to $14.70 • Ford motors suffered lack of diversification • Ford Motors have a very small share of market which results in a great loss to the company • Various obligations are termed as the weakness of Ford motors

Opportunities • Restructuring plan was launched in order to improve the performance of the Ford Motors • Various products were predicted to switch towards the hybrid electric engines • Ford tried to diversify their market towards India and china in order to diversify their revenues • Ford motor is termed as environment friendly • Generosities is one of the best opportunity which results in betterment for the company • Well researched programs are under consideration in order to gain more popularity • Other companies doing well oriented task is also the greatest opportunity for Ford Motors

Threats • Rising oil prices are one of the major contributor towards the loss of the company • Rising raw material prices • Rise in competition is one of the major threat towards the productivity of the company • Another important threat for Ford Motor is the low capital spending • Other automobile manufacturer’s ideas and programs are the biggest threat for Ford Company • Competition is one of the major threat. Ford Motor is thus trying to generate automobiles with best technology in order to minimize this • Working with different techniques is one of the major threat All the above-mentioned strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are the major factors, which contribute a lot towards the betterment of the company. If these all are rectify properly and at proper stage then the outcomes can be easily generated without facing any further difficulty. Due to SWOT analysis, a company can work well and can generate effective outcomes. Proper SWOT analysis is necessary for the betterment of a company. Therefore, SWOT analysis should be carried on regular basis in order to generate better outcomes. (Gundry & Kickul, Pg 401, 2007)

Carnival Corporation SWOT Analysis

Strengths • Carnival Corporation is largest in the world for dealing with cruise ships and 11 identifiable brands are being operated by them. • The cruise ships that company is operating by 2011 are huge number that is 100. • The cruises are serving majority of the company that might be luxurious, budget friendly or contemporary, according the market being served. • The operating cost of the company US$ 2.347 billion, that is comparatively at advantage over the competitors costs. • The revenue owned by the company was US$ 14.469 billion and the profits being generated are three fold greater than that of expected values from such markets. • The company’s promotional strategies advantage it through increasing the customers’ base through the print and electronic media.

• The demographic presence of the company is strong enough in North America, Australia, Germany, Spain, Brazil, UK, and New Zealand with majority pf shares in United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and France.

Weaknesses • The company is often unable to maintain the increasing trends in profits and revenues as in 2009 as compared to 2008 decreased by 23.2%. • The customers’ base of the company is highly dependent upon America that is more than 50% and the decline in the profits is always largely associated with American market. • The dollar rising value against the German and UK’s currency decreases the company profitability as their currency value is less as compared to dollars. • The construction of ships by the company outdraws huge amounts of capital that adds to the instability of the company at the time of instability in the economic conditions of the company.

Opportunities • The company though biggest cruise company still accounts of only 5% of the global traveling industry. The company has enormous opportunities of expansion in Asia and Europe. • The berth capacity has been planned to increase by 37% in 2012. This would generate heavy profits from European travel industry. • The Chinese customer base of the company is increasing every day because of the economic stability of the china’s economy, for this purpose specifically costa Classica was launched. • The union of Costa Europe and Thomson Cruises in 2010 has provided the tremendous opportunities for both the ends.

Threats • The tax escape of the corporation is in a great threat as US government is on the way to wind up the loopholes provided to the company affecting the financial statement and profits tremendously. • The low sulphur fuel usage is expensive but it’s been obligated on the company by environmental protection agency of USA. • Onboard felling off of the passengers and pirates Attack in Somali has posed a great threat to the company.

Toyota motors corporation