Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education
Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education (MCBRE) was a business-public education partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) that promoted cross-sector knowledge sharing and academic excellence. Its suite of core student programs, such as 720, where business leaders addressed nearly half of the ninth grade class about the importance of achievement in high school, and the Young Professionals Conference, an event for juniors that highlighted exciting business practices, allowed businesses to connect with students at the individual level. At the same time, the creation of platforms for business-education learning brought system-level improvements. In particular, MCBRE's board of advisor's meetings brought together top executives from companies such as Lockheed Martin, NASDAQ, and PricewaterhouseCoopers with MCPS leaders to learn about management and leadership practices. After leading MCBRE for the past five years, first as executive director, and now as board chair, Jane Kubasik was leaving. While the newly hired executive director, Heather Schwager, was more than qualified to take over, there were some concerns. Kubasik had planned and implemented most of MCBRE's current initiatives, and single-handedly recruited nearly all of MCBRE's current members. Would MCBRE be able to retain its impressive membership without Kubasik? With its selective invite-only criteria for new members, would MCBRE be able to continue to grow? Should growth even be a goal?
Swot Analysis of "Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education" written by Allen Grossman, Geoff Marietta includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mcbre Kubasik facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Joint ventures, Knowledge management, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mcbre Kubasik, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mcbre Kubasik 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mcbre Kubasik
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 Mcbre Kubasik
Strengths Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mcbre Kubasik in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mcbre Kubasik 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Mcbre Kubasik has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mcbre Kubasik to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mcbre Kubasik to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mcbre Kubasik to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Mcbre Kubasik 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 Mcbre Kubasik is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mcbre Kubasik in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Mcbre Kubasik is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mcbre Kubasik in the sector have low bargaining power. Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mcbre Kubasik to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Training and development
– Mcbre Kubasik has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mcbre Kubasik has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mcbre Kubasik has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Mcbre Kubasik is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Mcbre Kubasik in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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.
Weaknesses Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education, it seems that the employees of Mcbre Kubasik don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mcbre Kubasik 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 - Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Mcbre Kubasik has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mcbre Kubasik has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Mcbre Kubasik even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mcbre Kubasik products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mcbre Kubasik needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mcbre Kubasik 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mcbre Kubasik is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mcbre Kubasik has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mcbre Kubasik needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education | 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mcbre Kubasik is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mcbre Kubasik can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mcbre Kubasik 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 Mcbre Kubasik to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mcbre Kubasik has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mcbre Kubasik to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education case study. Mcbre Kubasik can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mcbre Kubasik can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
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. Mcbre Kubasik 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. Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mcbre Kubasik 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.
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 Mcbre Kubasik in the consumer business. Now Mcbre Kubasik can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Mcbre Kubasik can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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 Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mcbre Kubasik to increase its market reach. Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mcbre Kubasik can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mcbre Kubasik operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mcbre Kubasik has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mcbre Kubasik in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mcbre Kubasik with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education, Mcbre Kubasik 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mcbre Kubasik 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Mcbre Kubasik.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Mcbre Kubasik 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. Mcbre Kubasik can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing wage structure of Mcbre Kubasik
– 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 Mcbre Kubasik.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mcbre Kubasik is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Mcbre Kubasik business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mcbre Kubasik 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education 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 Mcbre Kubasik needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.