Because Wisdom Can't Be Told SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Because Wisdom Can't Be Told
Concerns the effect the case method has on both teachers and students. Points out the growth in maturity of the incoming student, accustomed to the role of receiver in undergraduate school, to the point where he or she becomes an active participant as an adult member of a democratic community. It also suggests the proper role of the instructor as a leader of the group and points out pitfalls to be avoided.
Swot Analysis of "Because Wisdom Can't Be Told" written by Charles I. Gragg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Receiver Adult facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Because Wisdom Can't Be Told casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption,
increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Because Wisdom Can't Be Told
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Receiver Adult, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Receiver Adult 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Receiver Adult
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Receiver Adult
Strengths Because Wisdom Can't Be Told | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Receiver Adult in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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.
Analytics focus
– Receiver Adult is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Charles I. Gragg can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Receiver Adult digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Receiver Adult 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.
Learning organization
- Receiver Adult 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 Receiver Adult is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Receiver Adult 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
– Receiver Adult is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Receiver Adult is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Because Wisdom Can't Be Told Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Because Wisdom Can't Be Told firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Receiver Adult to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Receiver Adult to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Receiver Adult 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Receiver Adult in the sector have low bargaining power. Because Wisdom Can't Be Told has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Receiver Adult to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Receiver Adult has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Receiver Adult 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.
High brand equity
– Receiver Adult has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Receiver Adult to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Because Wisdom Can't Be Told | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Because Wisdom Can't Be Told are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Because Wisdom Can't Be Told HBR case study mentions - Receiver Adult 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Receiver Adult, firm in the HBR case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Receiver Adult 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Receiver Adult 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told, it seems that the employees of Receiver Adult 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Receiver Adult is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Receiver Adult 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Receiver Adult is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Receiver Adult 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Charles I. Gragg suggests that, Receiver Adult is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told, in the dynamic environment Receiver Adult has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Receiver Adult has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Because Wisdom Can't Be Told | 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Receiver Adult 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 Receiver Adult to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Receiver Adult to increase its market reach. Receiver Adult 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Receiver Adult 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Receiver Adult 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Receiver Adult can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Receiver Adult in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Receiver Adult can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Receiver Adult operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Receiver Adult 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Receiver Adult to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Receiver Adult has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Receiver Adult to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Because Wisdom Can't Be Told case study. Receiver Adult can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Receiver Adult 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 Organizational Development segment.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Receiver Adult 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. Receiver Adult 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Receiver Adult to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Receiver Adult 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, Because Wisdom Can't Be Told, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Because Wisdom Can't Be Told External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Because Wisdom Can't Be Told are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Receiver Adult 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told .
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 Receiver Adult business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Receiver Adult in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Receiver Adult 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.
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. Receiver Adult needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Receiver Adult can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Receiver Adult in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Receiver Adult 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told, Receiver Adult may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Regulatory challenges
– Receiver Adult needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
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 Receiver Adult.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Because Wisdom Can't Be Told 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 Receiver Adult needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.