AUDIO ADVICE CASE Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

AUDIO ADVICE CASE Case Solution

EXTERNAL FACTORS:

The term refers to those factors which cannot be controlled by the organization but effects the organization’s performance e.g. competitors.

Strengths and weaknesses of Competitors:

The new revolution of technology created demands for online websites but at that time Audio Advice was operating with two physical outlets only, the portion of their revenue was captured by other low priced online retailers, customers visited outlets to watch and hear products only and placed orders from other low priced online retailers. Moreover other big competitors were also doing online sales with the help of other online businesses. The competitors were highly able to develop the brand name and customer loyalty like Audio Advice.

Limitations at Amazon Marketplace:

Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world that helps other businesses to sell their products online through a platform on a markup. Audio Advice used Amazon Marketplace for the sale of their products online. The company earned massive revenue but they had to offer lower prices for that. Amazon is famous for cheap prices but Audio Advice’s products for audiophile were expensive and company was selling them on higher prices at their outlets. The trend indicates that the demand of the customers is now shifting to online businesses and for that many businesses are focusing on online platforms.

3 Defining and Evaluating Alternatives:

Audio Advance has quite few options to overcome a new E-commerce website issue which are as follows:

Sub-brand:

Audio Advice has the option to launch a website under its brand name with a sub brand that will enable the company to establish more trust and brand awareness in the market. Moreover, the existing customers of the company can easily buy the products online and there will not be any confusion i.e. two different names of brand can confuse existing customers. Furthermore, the firm doesn’t need to have huge funds to build sub brand website as compared to launching the new brand.

New Brand:

Audio Advice has the option to launch a completely different brand as a website. The new launched brand will provide a big sea to move on, moreover the organization can apply approaches that they have experienced in past, in addition there will not be a conflict between management and sales staff. The company needs to have a lot of financial support to create brand awareness and loyalty.

Stick to Amazon Marketplace:

The company can use their current approach for online business that will benefit the company a lot with a little amount of investment but that’s not a long-term solution. The company may not be able to improve customer relationships.

Decision Matrix:

Scale: 1-4

Factors	Sub Brand	New Brand	Amazon Marketplace Option
Finance	4	1	4
Sales	3	2	4
Customer Relationships	3	1	1
Profit	4	2	3
Total	14	6	12

4 Recommendations:

According to the decision matrix the recommended method preferred is, the company should try to launch a sub brand website because Audio Advice spent a long time to build its name in the market and the firm can earn with that name in online business. Audio Advice should also try to use organizational behavior approaches to improve their employees’ behavior. The firm should use “Carrot and stick” method i.e. first they should try to motivate the sales staff by offering some reward on specific targets, if their behavior will still be the same then the organization can impose penalties to punish them. The firm should use their own website for online business but they also can synergize with other big online retailers which will enable the business to flourish worldwide and will be beneficial for both organizations. Moreover, it will be a big problem for the firm to finance a completely new startup.

Appendix: SWOT ANALYSIS MATRIX:

Strengths:

Reputation of the firm as premium brand in market.
Offering range of products to attract target market.
Organization’s long-term vision is a strength itself that help firm to achieve its objectives.

Weaknesses:

Sales staff of the company is not happy with the decision of online business.
Amazon Marketplace is unable to sell expensive products.
Customer Relationships with new customers are not being due to lack of direct contact.

Opportunities: