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Tank in the Bog (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Tank in the Bog (A)


On November 16, 1996, Doug Crandall, second lieutenant and platoon leader of the Army's 1st Platoon, Delta Company, consisting of four tanks and 16 men, was tasked with establishing a mobile defense. Their mission was to block enemy scout vehicles' northward movement along the extensive trail networks of the Fort Polk woods in Louisiana. Upon receiving orders, the platoon had 18 hours to prepare their positions. Unfortunately, 30 minutes into the mission, the track on the crew's tank dislodged from the sprocket, requiring the crew to radio for maintenance. Sixteen hours later, the tank was repaired, but 100 meters into the woods, it sank into a bog. It was just past midnight. The temperature had dropped to 45 degrees. Amidst heated radio exchanges from his commander and angry interactions with the lead mechanic who had just spent 10 hours on replacing the tank's track, Crandall knew that the soldiers and the situation were his responsibility. He had to keep the people safe, maintain control, and figure out a way to get the platoon out of the bog and get into a defensive position in less than an hour.

Authors :: David L. Bradford, Doug Crandall

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Leading teams, Motivating people, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Tank in the Bog (A)" written by David L. Bradford, Doug Crandall includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Platoon Bog facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Tank in the Bog (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams, Motivating people and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Tank in the Bog (A) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tank in the Bog (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Tank in the Bog (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Platoon Bog, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Platoon Bog operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of Tank in the Bog (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Tank in the Bog (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Platoon Bog
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Platoon Bog




Strengths Tank in the Bog (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Platoon Bog in Tank in the Bog (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Learning organization

- Platoon Bog is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Platoon Bog is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Tank in the Bog (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Platoon Bog has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Tank in the Bog (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Platoon Bog has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Platoon Bog to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– Platoon Bog has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Tank in the Bog (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Tank in the Bog (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Platoon Bog has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Diverse revenue streams

– Platoon Bog is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Tank in the Bog (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Platoon Bog digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Platoon Bog has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

Organizational Resilience of Platoon Bog

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Platoon Bog does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Platoon Bog has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Tank in the Bog (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Strong track record of project management

– Platoon Bog is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Platoon Bog is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Tank in the Bog (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.






Weaknesses Tank in the Bog (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Tank in the Bog (A) are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Tank in the Bog (A), is just above the industry average. Platoon Bog needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Platoon Bog has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Tank in the Bog (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Platoon Bog has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Tank in the Bog (A) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Platoon Bog has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Tank in the Bog (A) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Tank in the Bog (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Platoon Bog is planning to shift buying processes online.

Lack of clear differentiation of Platoon Bog products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Platoon Bog needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Platoon Bog has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Platoon Bog, firm in the HBR case study Tank in the Bog (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Tank in the Bog (A) HBR case study mentions - Platoon Bog takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

Need for greater diversity

– Platoon Bog has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Platoon Bog has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.




Opportunities Tank in the Bog (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Tank in the Bog (A) are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Platoon Bog can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Platoon Bog to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Platoon Bog can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Loyalty marketing

– Platoon Bog has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Platoon Bog to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Platoon Bog to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Platoon Bog to increase its market reach. Platoon Bog will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Platoon Bog can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Platoon Bog can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Platoon Bog can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Platoon Bog has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Platoon Bog to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Tank in the Bog (A) case study. Platoon Bog can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Platoon Bog in the consumer business. Now Platoon Bog can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Platoon Bog in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Platoon Bog has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Tank in the Bog (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Platoon Bog to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Platoon Bog can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.




Threats Tank in the Bog (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Tank in the Bog (A) are -

Environmental challenges

– Platoon Bog needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Platoon Bog can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Platoon Bog business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Platoon Bog is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Platoon Bog

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Platoon Bog.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Platoon Bog can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Tank in the Bog (A) .

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Platoon Bog can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Platoon Bog with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Platoon Bog needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Platoon Bog can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Tank in the Bog (A), Platoon Bog may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Platoon Bog has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Platoon Bog needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Platoon Bog demand

– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tank in the Bog (A) Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Tank in the Bog (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Tank in the Bog (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Tank in the Bog (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Tank in the Bog (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Platoon Bog needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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