Swot Analysis of the Geek Squad

1. SWOT Analysis of the Geek Squad

Strengths

One of the Geek Squad’s strengths is their good reputation, which can be attributed to firstly, the discretionary service that the Geek Squad provides for their customers. It seems to be highly appreciated and valued by the customers who desire their computer problems to not be made known. Secondly, the quality of the services provided by the company seems to be of high standards; from their quick response time (as evidenced by them arriving at the customer’s house in 45 minutes after a call), after service follow-up, and ensuring that the “agents” hired are not just able to do the job, but are people that customers can be comfortable with in their own homes.  

Another strength that the Geek Squad appears to have is their strong branding. Robert Stephens has spent a great deal of time thinking about creating many unique and distinct features in the Geek Squad in order for the company to be recognisable. For instance, the entire theme of the company is extremely distinct from the name of the Company itself, their interesting corporate titles (e.g. Chief Inspector, Counter Intelligence), and recognisable Geek Mobiles. Furthermore, with the work that they do being emergency driven, the theme fits in perfectly with the covert operations theme that Stephens has created.

Weaknesses

Although Stephens considers their small size beneficial,  the company would most likely be unable to provide excellent services for a broader range of customers, such as customers living farther away from the Geek Squad’s HQ (in Minnesota), or providing services beyond computer repair. Furthermore in the service business, customers may be wary of trusting that a smaller sized business would be able to provide the services that they need.

Also, being a small company, the available finances to the Geek Squad is rather limited. Even though their finances have been positive in all but the 2 years in which they attempted to grow the company at an inorganic rate (in 1997 and 2000), not being able to finance such growth will affect the company’s ability to grow at a faster rate. This suggests that the company will not be able to take advantage of any new opportunities in the market (evidenced by their CFO having to say no to certain possible costs to grow the company).

Opportunities

The popularity and demand for computer related services seems to have been increasing at the time of the video due to some factors. Firstly, Bill Gates legitimised computers due to earning his fortune out of being a computer geek, increasing the value of being a computer geek. Also, in the video it is apparent that many people were beginning to use computers for work and that having a service such as the Geek Squad would be in high demand as the downtime caused by computer breakdowns would have detrimental effects on a person’s earning abilities.