Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers
The (D) case, fourth in a series of five, closes a major loop left open in the preceding (B) and (C) cases, which focused on changes in the editorial organization and operations of the Telegraph Media Group: making the change, which was seen as an imperative in the (A) case, worthwhile by transforming the commercial organization, whose responsibility it is to bring revenue from advertisers and to look for other ways to "monetize" the Telegraph's considerable investment in digitization.
Swot Analysis of "Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers" written by Anirudh Dhebar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Telegraph Loop facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Competition, Customers, Leadership, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Telegraph Loop, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Telegraph Loop
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 Telegraph Loop
Strengths Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Telegraph Loop in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Loop in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Telegraph Loop is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Telegraph Loop has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Telegraph Loop to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Telegraph Loop is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Telegraph Loop in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Telegraph Loop in the sector have low bargaining power. Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Telegraph Loop to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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.
Training and development
– Telegraph Loop has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Telegraph Loop has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Telegraph Loop 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Telegraph Loop digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Telegraph Loop 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. Telegraph Loop 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers, is just above the industry average. Telegraph Loop 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Loop has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers HBR case study mentions - Telegraph Loop 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Telegraph Loop products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Telegraph Loop needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers, it seems that the employees of Telegraph Loop 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Telegraph Loop is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Telegraph Loop 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 - Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers, in the dynamic environment Telegraph Loop has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Telegraph Loop has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers | 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Telegraph Loop 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Telegraph Loop to increase its market reach. Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Loop can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Telegraph Loop has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Telegraph Loop to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers case study. Telegraph Loop can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Telegraph Loop can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Telegraph Loop 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Telegraph Loop can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Telegraph Loop operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Telegraph Loop can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Telegraph Loop 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, Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Threats Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Telegraph Loop 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 wage structure of Telegraph Loop
– 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 Telegraph Loop.
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 Telegraph Loop business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Telegraph Loop has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Loop 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.
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. Telegraph Loop 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Telegraph Loop 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Telegraph Loop 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Telegraph Loop with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Telegraph Loop can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Telegraph Loop 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers 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 Telegraph Loop needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (D), Making It All Worthwhile: Closing the Loop with Advertisers
