Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version
Vicki Amon-Higa, vice president of KANA, a publicly traded, midsize development company, was working with Bryan Kettle, KANA's CFO, to plan a layoff in which KANA would reduce the size of its workforce by nearly 40%. Despite the best of intentions, news of the layoff leaked before the planned announcement. The situation quickly deteriorated as a series of irate managers called Amon-Higa, demanding to know why they weren't aware of the layoff and asking her how to handle the situation. She must quickly assess the situation, figure out what went wrong, and decide how to manage each of the company's stakeholders, including Chuck Bay, KANA's CEO.
Swot Analysis of "Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version" written by Leslie A. Perlow, David L. Ager includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Layoff Kana facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Downsizing, Human resource management, Influence, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Layoff Kana, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Layoff Kana
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 Layoff Kana
Strengths Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Layoff Kana in Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Layoff Kana is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Layoff Kana has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Layoff Kana 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Layoff Kana in the sector have low bargaining power. Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Layoff Kana to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Layoff Kana digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Layoff Kana 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Layoff Kana 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Layoff Kana in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Layoff Kana 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 Layoff Kana in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Layoff Kana has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Layoff Kana 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Layoff Kana to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Layoff Kana to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Layoff Kana 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Layoff Kana has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Layoff Kana has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Layoff Kana, firm in the HBR case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Layoff Kana 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Layoff Kana is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Layoff Kana needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Layoff Kana to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version, 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, Layoff Kana is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Layoff Kana 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Layoff Kana 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Leslie A. Perlow, David L. Ager suggests that, Layoff Kana 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Layoff Kana has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version | 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version are -
Loyalty marketing
– Layoff Kana 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.
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. Layoff Kana 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. Layoff Kana 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Layoff Kana 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Layoff Kana 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 Layoff Kana to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Layoff Kana can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Layoff Kana 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. Layoff Kana can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Layoff Kana 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Layoff Kana 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Layoff Kana 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Layoff Kana can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Layoff Kana 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Layoff Kana to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version are -
Regulatory challenges
– Layoff Kana 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.
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. Layoff Kana needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Layoff Kana 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version .
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Layoff Kana is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Layoff Kana 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. Layoff Kana can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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.
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. Layoff Kana can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Layoff Kana
– 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 Layoff Kana.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Layoff Kana in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Layoff Kana has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Layoff Kana 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.
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. Layoff Kana 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.
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 Layoff Kana in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Cat Is Out of the Bag: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A), Spanish Version 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 Layoff Kana needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.