The Board of Directors at Market Basket SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Board of Directors at Market Basket
The firing of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and directors affiliated with Arthur set off employee protests throughout the grocery store chain. Industry specialists estimated that Market Basket was losing close to $10 million each day in lost business and inventory, due to the protests. A long history of legal battles had destroyed the relationship between the families of the 2 cousins. This case describes the complexities of corporate governance for a family-owned organization.
Swot Analysis of "The Board of Directors at Market Basket" written by Jay W. Lorsch, Emily McTague includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Basket Arthur facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Board of Directors at Market Basket case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational culture, Organizational structure and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Board of Directors at Market Basket casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Board of Directors at Market Basket
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Board of Directors at Market Basket case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Basket Arthur, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Basket Arthur 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Board of Directors at Market Basket case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Basket Arthur
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 Basket Arthur
Strengths The Board of Directors at Market Basket | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Basket Arthur in The Board of Directors at Market Basket Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Basket Arthur in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Basket Arthur 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 Basket Arthur in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Basket Arthur 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 Basket Arthur is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Board of Directors at Market Basket Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Basket Arthur 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 Jay W. Lorsch, Emily McTague 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– The Board of Directors at Market Basket firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Basket Arthur to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Basket Arthur to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Basket Arthur is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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
– Basket Arthur 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Basket Arthur
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Basket Arthur does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Basket Arthur are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Basket Arthur is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 brand equity
– Basket Arthur has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Basket Arthur to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses The Board of Directors at Market Basket | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Board of Directors at Market Basket are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 Basket Arthur has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Basket Arthur supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Board of Directors at Market Basket, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Basket Arthur vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket, in the dynamic environment Basket Arthur has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Basket Arthur has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 Basket Arthur 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Board of Directors at Market Basket HBR case study mentions - Basket Arthur 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket, is just above the industry average. Basket Arthur 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Basket Arthur is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Basket Arthur is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Basket Arthur 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Basket Arthur is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Basket Arthur needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Basket Arthur to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Basket Arthur 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 - The Board of Directors at Market Basket should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities The Board of Directors at Market Basket | 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Basket Arthur 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, The Board of Directors at Market Basket, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Basket Arthur 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Basket Arthur 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Basket Arthur to increase its market reach. Basket Arthur 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Basket Arthur 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Basket Arthur is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Basket Arthur 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
– Basket Arthur 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.
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. Basket Arthur 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. Basket Arthur 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Basket Arthur 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Basket Arthur 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.
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. Basket Arthur can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Basket Arthur in the consumer business. Now Basket Arthur can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The Board of Directors at Market Basket External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Board of Directors at Market Basket are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Basket Arthur will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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 Basket Arthur.
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. Basket Arthur needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Basket Arthur high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Basket Arthur 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket .
Regulatory challenges
– Basket Arthur 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.
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 Basket Arthur business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Basket Arthur 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Basket Arthur 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Basket Arthur 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket, Basket Arthur 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Basket Arthur has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Basket Arthur 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 The Board of Directors at Market Basket 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 Basket Arthur needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.