Question

Come up with a 5 elements of each category of the SWOT of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Eighteen thousand expired cans of sardines.84 Fifty garden gnomes. A mechanical bull. Trophies from a nudist colony. These objects are just some of the weird items that Vancouver-based 1-800-GOT-JUNK? customers have asked the uniformed people in the freshly scrubbed blue trucks to haul away. Company founder and CEO Brian Scudamore discovered a lucrative niche between “trash cans and those big green bins dropped off by” the giant waste haulers. But even in such an uncomplicated business as hauling people’s junk, Scudamore must be concerned with managing change and innovation.

1-800-GOT-JUNK? is an award-winning company with a corporate staff of about 300 individuals. “With a vision of creating the ‘FedEx’ of junk removal,” says Scudamore, “I dropped out of university with just one year left to become a full-time JUNKMAN! Yes, my father, a liver transplant surgeon, was not impressed, to say the least.” However, in 2011, the company had more than 200 franchises, and system-wide revenues were over $100 million.85 Not surprisingly, Scudamore’s father is a little more understanding these days about his son’s business. Since 1997, the company has grown exponentially. The company made the list of Entrepreneur magazine’s 100 fastest-growing franchises in 2005 and 2006. It was named one of the Best Employers in Canada by Canadian Business, and Scudamore won the International Franchise Association’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. Scudamore also started two newer franchises: Wow 1 Day Painting and You Move Me.

Hauling junk would be, to most people’s minds at least, a pretty simple business. However, the company Scudamore founded is a “curious hybrid.” It has been described as a blend of “old economy and new economy.” The company’s service—hauling away trash—has been done for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. But 1-800-GOT-JUNK? also relies heavily on up-to-date information technology and has the kind of organizational culture that most people associate with high-tech startups. The company uses its 1-800-GOT-JUNK? call centre to do the booking and dispatching for all its franchise partners. The franchise partners also use the company’s proprietary intranet and customer relationship management site—dubbed JunkNet—to access schedules, customer information, real-time reports, and so forth. According to Scudamore’s philosophy, this approach allowed franchise partners to “work on the business” instead of “work in the business.” On any given day, all a franchisee has to do is open up JunkNet to see the day’s schedule. If a new job comes in during a workday, the program automatically sends an alert to the franchisee. Needless to say, the company’s franchisees tend to be quite tech-savvy. In fact, some of them have installed GPS devices in their trucks to help find the most efficient routes on a job. Others use online navigation sites. With the price of gas continuing to increase, this type of capability is important.

1-800-GOT-JUNK? has a culture that would rival any high-tech startup. The head office is known as the Junktion. Grizzly, Scudamore’s dog, comes to the office every day and helps employees relieve stress by playing catch anytime, anywhere. Each morning at exactly 10:55, all employees at the Junktion meet for a seven-minute huddle, where they share good news, announcements, metrics, and problems they are encountering. Visitors to the Junktion have to join the group huddle, too. One of the most conspicuous features of the Junktion is the “Vision Wall,” which contains the varied outputs of Scudamore’s brainstorms. Other members of the executive team have visions for the company’s future as well. Periodically they will wander through the offices of Genome Sciences Centre, the tenant occupying the space above them, to visualize a future when GOT-JUNK? has expanded so sufficiently that it will take over that office space. Scudamore does not use a permanent desk, instead preferring to sit in different spaces to talk with people and get a sense of what is going on in the business.

Company franchisees are also encouraged to take initiative and be innovative. For example, the Toronto franchise, which has 12 trucks, sometimes gets a blue truck motorcade going down Yonge Street through the heart of the city as a way to be noticed and to publicize its services. Despite the company’s success to date, Scudamore is wondering whether he is prepared to face whatever changes may happen in the environment in the years to come.

Answer 1

Answer:

SWOT analysis of 1-800- GOT JUNK:

Strengths:

1. The company made the list of Entrepreneur magazine’s 100 fastest-growing franchises in 2005 and 2006.

2. Company was named one of the Best Employers in Canada by Canadian Business, and Scudamore won the International Franchise Association’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.

3. It offers high barrier to entry to the other companies in the same or similar category.

4. It has very high gross margin and a good brand reputation worldwide.

5. It has limited start up risk known by large number of successful franchise distributed across various metropolitan cities in the world.

Weakness:

1. The business is easily imitable; hence competitors can crop up with the similar kind of business.

2. Start up cost is very limited; hence it gives opportunities for new start ups to think for the same business.

3. Cost of transportation or pick up of junk is very high.

4. Flexibility in pricing of the services being offered by the company is very limited.

5. Environmental challenges may adversely affect the business as there are certain material in junk that cannot be decomposed.

Opportunities:

1. Business can be expanded further by establishing its own subsidiaries in the other countries to make more revenues.

2. Company can go online for picking up the orders from various customers of the world.

3. Company can use the services of third party logistics to start the pick up of the junk anywhere on the earth.

4. Company should think of tying up with other companies that purchase junks to recycle the same.

5. Company can have its own in house recycling plant so as to produce various products through recycled material.

Threats:

1. Primary threat is of the imitation of the business.

2. Employees of the company can start their own company as the understanding of the business is very easy and starting of such company is not difficult.

3. Environmental concern of the government may reduce the scope of the business.

4. Company’s performance is highly dependent on the performance of the franchise.

5. Brand reputation of the company is at stake with the franchise.