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The Knight Management Center SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of The Knight Management Center


The Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), Bob Joss, must decide whether to make the school's new campus LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was an environmental certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED was a system where projects earned points for satisfying specific green building criteria. In addition to the added cost of making the campus LEED certified, which was thought to be around $11 million, but was very hard to estimate, Joss had to take into consideration the differing opinions of the school's faculty, alumni, students and administration. While many of the school's alumni and students were in favor of the certification, faculty tended to be against it. Stanford's administration was decidedly against pursuing LEED certification. There were several arguments for pursuing LEED certification. First, the GSB would take a leadership position in sustainability, which would teach students about the importance of the role of sustainability in business and serve as a model for the business community. It would also give the GSB a competitive advantage in attracting students to the school. There were also arguments against pursuing LEED certification. Would the environmental concerns be put ahead of practical day-to-day operational functionality, such as having sufficient light and air conditioning? Some felt that the LEED system itself was flawed, with a rigid point system, which they believed counted nominal environmental improvements rather than real ones. Also, Stanford's administration argued that the school had its own set of sustainability standards which were strict, yet more suited for campus buildings than the LEED system.

Authors :: Jake Kraft, Kathleen Kavanaugh, Baba Shiv

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "The Knight Management Center" written by Jake Kraft, Kathleen Kavanaugh, Baba Shiv includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leed Certification facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Knight Management Center case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Organizational Development.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Knight Management Center casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Knight Management Center


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Knight Management Center case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leed Certification, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leed Certification operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of The Knight Management Center can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Knight Management Center case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leed Certification
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 Leed Certification




Strengths The Knight Management Center | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Leed Certification in The Knight Management Center Harvard Business Review case study are -

Analytics focus

– Leed Certification 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 Jake Kraft, Kathleen Kavanaugh, Baba Shiv 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Leed Certification has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Leed Certification 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.

High brand equity

– Leed Certification has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Leed Certification to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Leed Certification 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Leed Certification in the sector have low bargaining power. The Knight Management Center has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Leed Certification to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Leed Certification has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in The Knight Management Center HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Innovation driven organization

– Leed Certification is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Knight Management Center Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field

– Leed Certification 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 Leed Certification in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Organizational Resilience of Leed Certification

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leed Certification does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry

– The Knight Management Center firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Leed Certification to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Leed Certification to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Leed Certification is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Knight Management Center are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Leed Certification 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.






Weaknesses The Knight Management Center | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The Knight Management Center are -

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Leed Certification, firm in the HBR case study The Knight Management Center needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study The Knight Management Center that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case The Knight Management Center can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leed Certification is planning to shift buying processes online.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Knight Management Center 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 Leed Certification has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study The Knight Management Center, 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, Leed Certification is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Knight Management Center can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study The Knight Management Center, it seems that the employees of Leed Certification 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Leed Certification 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. Leed Certification 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 The Knight Management Center, is just above the industry average. Leed Certification 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Leed Certification 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Leed Certification 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 Leed Certification has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - The Knight Management Center should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.




Opportunities The Knight Management Center | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study The Knight Management Center are -

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. Leed Certification can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Manufacturing automation

– Leed Certification 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Leed Certification can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Leed Certification 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.

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 Leed Certification in the consumer business. Now Leed Certification can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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. Leed Certification can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Leed Certification 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Leed Certification can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Knight Management Center 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Leed Certification 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 Leed Certification to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Leed Certification to increase its market reach. Leed Certification will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Leed Certification 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Leed Certification has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leed Certification to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Knight Management Center case study. Leed Certification can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Leed Certification 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 The Knight Management Center External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Knight Management Center are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Leed Certification has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Leed Certification 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Leed Certification 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Knight Management Center, Leed Certification 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 .

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. Leed Certification can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. Leed Certification 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.

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 Leed Certification.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Leed Certification with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Leed Certification 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Leed Certification is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Leed Certification 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Leed Certification 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.

Environmental challenges

– Leed Certification 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. Leed Certification can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Knight Management Center Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study The Knight Management Center needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study The Knight Management Center is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study The Knight Management Center is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of The Knight Management Center 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 Leed Certification needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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