Chronicles how the birth of Sheryle Bolton's second son with a life-threatening illness made Bolton reconsider her professional ambitions. Her son's misfortune had grounded Bolton in the belief that whatever she did professionally had to serve society. As a result, Bolton quit her successful career as an investment banker. Several years later, Bolton and her husband discussed her career options: She had just received an offer from a venture capital fund for an $8 million investment in a business plan that targeted consumer health information services. She had also been offered the CEO position at a start-up that was developing a product that helped turn poor young readers into good ones.
Authors :: Kathryn Shaw, Carly Irestone, Angela Shelton, Alexander Tauber
Swot Analysis of "Sheryle Bolton" written by Kathryn Shaw, Carly Irestone, Angela Shelton, Alexander Tauber includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bolton Sheryle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sheryle Bolton case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Gender, Psychology, Social responsibility, Work-life balance and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sheryle Bolton casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sheryle Bolton case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bolton Sheryle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bolton Sheryle 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 Sheryle Bolton can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sheryle Bolton case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bolton Sheryle
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 Bolton Sheryle
Strengths Sheryle Bolton | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bolton Sheryle in Sheryle Bolton Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Bolton Sheryle 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 Bolton Sheryle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sheryle Bolton Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Bolton Sheryle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bolton Sheryle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sheryle Bolton 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bolton Sheryle 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 Sheryle Bolton HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Bolton Sheryle 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 Kathryn Shaw, Carly Irestone, Angela Shelton, Alexander Tauber 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.
High brand equity
– Bolton Sheryle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bolton Sheryle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bolton Sheryle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sheryle Bolton are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bolton Sheryle 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 Bolton Sheryle in the sector have low bargaining power. Sheryle Bolton has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bolton Sheryle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bolton Sheryle is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sheryle Bolton 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Sheryle Bolton firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bolton Sheryle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bolton Sheryle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bolton Sheryle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bolton Sheryle 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.
Weaknesses Sheryle Bolton | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sheryle Bolton are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bolton Sheryle 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sheryle Bolton 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 Bolton Sheryle 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bolton Sheryle 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 - Sheryle Bolton should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Bolton Sheryle 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bolton Sheryle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sheryle Bolton can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sheryle Bolton 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 Bolton Sheryle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bolton Sheryle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Bolton Sheryle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bolton Sheryle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bolton Sheryle 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Sheryle Bolton, it seems that the employees of Bolton Sheryle 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bolton Sheryle products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bolton Sheryle needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bolton Sheryle 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 Sheryle Bolton | 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 Sheryle Bolton are -
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. Bolton Sheryle can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Bolton Sheryle 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bolton Sheryle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bolton Sheryle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Bolton Sheryle can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sheryle Bolton 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bolton Sheryle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sheryle Bolton 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bolton Sheryle 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.
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 Bolton Sheryle 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bolton Sheryle can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bolton Sheryle can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bolton Sheryle to increase its market reach. Bolton Sheryle 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bolton Sheryle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bolton Sheryle 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bolton Sheryle 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.
Threats Sheryle Bolton External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sheryle Bolton are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bolton Sheryle 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.
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 Bolton Sheryle.
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 Bolton Sheryle in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bolton Sheryle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bolton Sheryle needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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 Bolton Sheryle 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sheryle Bolton, Bolton Sheryle 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Bolton Sheryle 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. Bolton Sheryle can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Bolton Sheryle needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bolton Sheryle 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bolton Sheryle 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 Sheryle Bolton .
Increasing wage structure of Bolton Sheryle
– 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 Bolton Sheryle.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sheryle Bolton 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 Sheryle Bolton 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 Sheryle Bolton 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 Sheryle Bolton 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 Sheryle Bolton 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 Bolton Sheryle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.