Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design
Faced with the need to reorganize completely its inefficient advertising art department, the Washington Post's design manager and team introduce new technology while carefully managing critical human resources issues. While downsizing the operation, they integrate typographers and graphic artists into a more effective, higher quality operation that satisfies employees and pleases both customers and management. The case focuses on several decisions the design manager needs to make in the midst of this transition.
Swot Analysis of "Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design" written by Thomas Walton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Washington Pleases facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, IT, Labor, Leading teams and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Washington Pleases, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Washington Pleases 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Washington Pleases
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 Washington Pleases
Strengths Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Washington Pleases in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Washington Pleases has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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.
Learning organization
- Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Washington Pleases 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 Thomas Walton can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Washington Pleases 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Washington Pleases is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Washington Pleases is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Washington Pleases has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Washington Pleases 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Washington Pleases products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Washington Pleases 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, it seems that the employees of Washington Pleases 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Washington Pleases is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on 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 Washington Pleases supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Washington Pleases vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Washington Pleases 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, is just above the industry average. Washington Pleases 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Washington Pleases 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, in the dynamic environment Washington Pleases has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Washington Pleases has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Washington Pleases 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Pleases has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design | 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Washington Pleases can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Washington Pleases 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.
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. Washington Pleases 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. Washington Pleases 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Washington Pleases 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Washington Pleases to increase its market reach. Washington Pleases 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.
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 Washington Pleases 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
– Washington Pleases 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Washington Pleases 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.
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. Washington Pleases can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Washington Pleases has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Washington Pleases to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design case study. Washington Pleases can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Washington Pleases can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Washington Pleases 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 Washington Pleases 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.
Threats Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design are -
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 Washington Pleases in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Washington Pleases 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design, Washington Pleases may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Environmental challenges
– Washington Pleases 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. Washington Pleases can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Washington Pleases 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.
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 Washington Pleases business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Washington Pleases 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.
Increasing wage structure of Washington Pleases
– 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 Washington Pleases.
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 Washington Pleases.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Washington Pleases 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Washington Pleases 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.
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. Washington Pleases needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Post: Balancing Technology and Human Resources by Design 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 Washington Pleases needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.