Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative
The Barclay family, new owners (in July 2004) of the Telegraph Media Group in London, the United Kingdom, had acquired a great UK newspaper brand but an organization that has lost its customer focus and, by the time of the events described in the case series (2006-2008), an enterprise in an industry facing tectonic plate shifts because of digitization, the Internet, a 24x7 news and information cycle, the advent of citizen journalism, fundamentally changing reader and advertiser behavior and preferences, and a besieged centuries-old print-media business model. (All this without the additional pain of the 2008 global economic downturn and the consequent fall in advertising revenue.) While "change" was not new to the Telegraph Group (it has seen plenty since the Daily Telegraph was first published in 1855), the Barclay family and the Telegraph's new leadership and management team saw the business at a significant transition point with change an urgent imperative. The (A) case, the first of a five-part series, lays out the business and leadership case for change in the context of the Telegraph's 150-plus-year history.
Swot Analysis of "Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative" written by Anirudh Dhebar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Telegraph Barclay facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative
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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Telegraph Barclay, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Telegraph Barclay 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Telegraph Barclay
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 Barclay
Strengths Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Telegraph Barclay in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Telegraph Barclay 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 Telegraph Barclay in the sector have low bargaining power. Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Telegraph Barclay to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Telegraph Barclay 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Telegraph Barclay 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 Telegraph Barclay is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Telegraph Barclay is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Telegraph Barclay digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Telegraph Barclay 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Telegraph Barclay in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Telegraph Barclay 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 Anirudh Dhebar 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Telegraph Barclay is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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.
High brand equity
– Telegraph Barclay has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Telegraph Barclay to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Telegraph Barclay to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Telegraph Barclay to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative | 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Telegraph Barclay is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Telegraph Barclay 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 Barclay 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Telegraph Barclay 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Telegraph Barclay 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Telegraph Barclay products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Telegraph Barclay needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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 Barclay has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Telegraph Barclay is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Telegraph Barclay needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Telegraph Barclay to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anirudh Dhebar suggests that, Telegraph Barclay is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative, is just above the industry average. Telegraph Barclay 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 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 Telegraph Barclay supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Telegraph Barclay vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative | 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative are -
Manufacturing automation
– Telegraph Barclay 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Telegraph Barclay 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.
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 Telegraph Barclay 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Telegraph Barclay 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, Telegraph Barclay can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Telegraph Barclay operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Telegraph Barclay can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Telegraph Barclay in the consumer business. Now Telegraph Barclay can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Telegraph Barclay 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Telegraph Barclay to increase its market reach. Telegraph Barclay 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Telegraph Barclay has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Telegraph Barclay to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative case study. Telegraph Barclay can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Telegraph Barclay 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. Telegraph Barclay can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Telegraph Barclay 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 Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Telegraph Barclay to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Telegraph Barclay 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Telegraph Barclay 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Telegraph Barclay is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Telegraph Barclay needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Telegraph Barclay
– 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 Barclay.
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 Barclay 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Telegraph Barclay with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Telegraph Barclay 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative .
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 Barclay business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Telegraph Barclay 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.
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 Telegraph Barclay in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Telegraph Barclay 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Telegraph Media Group: The Newspaper Is Dead, Long Live the... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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... (A), Change, a Business and Leadership Imperative 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 Barclay needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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