Guys,
Here's what I have written for the SWOT analysis....
The Box Company has a history of their business being in the family. The business was handed down to the couple after her parents decided to retire. Many potential customers within the state and throughout the country tend to appreciate this fact. The Box Company has been in business since the 60’s, which gives them many years of experience and a good standing within the community. They have developed a very strong core competency with their hatboxes that can be custom made or even mass-produced on a small scale. All of this gives them an advantage of being a business that is already in place with the tools and equipment necessary to increase productivity. Aside from the hatboxes, they are capable of providing different types of products, which are also handcrafted. This capability is a strength that allows them for flexibility in a potentially fluctuating market. Since they are a very small business, they are able to respond to orders relatively quickly since they have minimal overhead and no necessity to seek out higher approval. To further enhance this strength, they are able to change the type of production rapidly if they have custom orders. They can literally pick and choose the type of products they wish to produce at the rate that suits them. Additionally, as a small business they are able to give really good customer care, as the current small amount of work means that they have plenty of time to devote to customers. This has been proven by the amount of repeat customers in the surrounding area.
There are numerous problems that arise when we look inside the Box Company. Even though the couple has vast experiences in dealing with customers and making a quality product they do not have the proper training and education to successfully run a business. One of the most essential necessities in starting any type of business, whether big or small, is to have a business model. A business model is the mechanism of how a company intends to generate revenue and eventually profits. It is a summary of how a company plans to serve its customers. This involves the totality of how it will select its customers and create utility for those customers; how it will acquire and keep their customers; and most importantly how it will define the tasks to be performed to create revenue. To put it simply, the Box Company does not have a business plan and this is by far their most crucial weakness.
The Box Company has done very little in the marketing of their product and business. While they have built a reputation within the local community they have done nothing to broadcast this to any outlying regions. Since they have a minimal staff to run the business, they will always have a difficult time marketing their product and expanding their business. On the whole, the small staff has very specific skills, which means that they aren’t very flexible. One person can’t really do another person’s job within the company. This is vital for any small company because if the employees are not flexible and able to change jobs then they are vulnerable to vital staff being sick or needing to take a vacation.
Since much of the Box Company’s ordering is done from customers who stop by the store or from word of mouth advertising, they have no ability to forecast any demand. This can lead to unnecessary ordering of supplies to make their product. They have not even looked into purchasing wood and other supplies from other companies in and around the state or the Midwest. Thereby they are potentially losing revenue due to the high transportation costs from importing wood from Russia. Overall, if the Box Company plans on expanding on any scale then they need to take a serious look at all the internal weaknesses in their company.
There are a few opportunities for the Box Company that may help to increase their overall amount of orders. One of the biggest opportunities is to pursue selling to other businesses. This can be done on a larger scale especially with their unfinished product lines. If they were able to brand their product and sell it to other companies such as Crate and Barrel they might be able to find a niche in the market where other companies have failed to do so. Once they are able to get their product into the market as a brand name then a company website with the capabilities of Internet ordering may be on the horizon. For now, a more reasonable and cost-effective opportunity is to sell their product on an online auction such as ebay.
In the meantime, while the Box Company ponders the question of using technology to market their product, other companies that sell similar types of products are cashing in on the large market. If another company around the U.S. really took off with their Internet marketing then they could become a much larger competitor and ruin any market position that the Box Company may have achieved. Or if competitors decided to brand their own product line and pursue a more B2B strategy then the Box Company will be left out hanging in the wind. Ultimately, they are most vulnerable from other competitors because they have not developed a business model and marketing strategy, while other companies have obviously set themselves up in this manner.
~Forrest