Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek
Mill manager Carl Adelman learns that a group of senior managers is soon to visit the Tiger Creek mill to learn more about the success of the newly implemented Expense Tracking System. The System had been installed on two paper machines to give workers real time cost data enabling them to optimize the papermaking process. Impressive savings resulted from the operating innovations made by the paper machine operators, and this has engaged corporate attention. However, the savings rate seems to have plateaued. Andelman must discover why before the VIP visit.
Swot Analysis of "Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek" written by Shoshana Zuboff, Gloria Bronsema includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Creek Mill facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Organizational culture, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Creek Mill, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Creek Mill 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Creek Mill
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 Creek Mill
Strengths Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Creek Mill in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Creek Mill to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Creek Mill to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Creek Mill has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Creek Mill to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Creek Mill is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Creek Mill 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Creek Mill in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Creek Mill is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Creek Mill 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 Creek Mill is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Creek Mill is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Creek Mill has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Creek Mill is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Creek Mill has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Creek Mill 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 Shoshana Zuboff, Gloria Bronsema 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.
Weaknesses Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Creek Mill 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 - Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Creek Mill 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Creek Mill 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Creek Mill 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Creek Mill products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Creek Mill needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Creek Mill, firm in the HBR case study Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek HBR case study mentions - Creek Mill 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Creek Mill has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Creek Mill 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. Creek Mill 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Creek Mill is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Creek Mill 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.
Opportunities Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek | 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek are -
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 Creek Mill 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.
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. Creek Mill can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Creek Mill 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Creek Mill 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Creek Mill to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Creek Mill is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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, Creek Mill 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, Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Creek Mill can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Creek Mill 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Creek Mill 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.
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 Creek Mill in the consumer business. Now Creek Mill can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Creek Mill 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Creek Mill 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 Creek Mill to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Creek Mill can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek, Creek Mill 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Creek Mill 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.
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. Creek Mill 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.
Environmental challenges
– Creek Mill 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. Creek Mill can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Creek Mill 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Creek Mill has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Creek Mill 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Creek Mill is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Creek Mill 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Creek Mill with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Creek Mill in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Creek Mill 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Creek Mill 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek 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 Creek Mill needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.