An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment
This case explores an ambiguous, public incident of a mature student touching a younger Professor, which created the perception of a hostile work environment for the Professor and for some students in her class. The ambiguous nature of the contact itself, uncertainty about organizational processes, potential career and reputation outcomes, and the impact on the learning environment in her classroom are all considered by the professor as she tries to decide whether to make a formal complaint, attempt to resolve the issue informally, or ignore it. This case does not address sexual harassment from a legal or regulatory perspective, but rather considers the role of perception and attribution in defining harassment, the social and psychological impact of sexual harassment on individuals, and the reasons that sexual harassment incidents continue to occur.
Swot Analysis of "An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment" written by Katherine E Breward, Colleen Sharen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Harassment Sexual facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Workspaces and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harassment Sexual, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harassment Sexual 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harassment Sexual
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 Harassment Sexual
Strengths An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Harassment Sexual in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Harassment Sexual is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harassment Sexual to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harassment Sexual to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Harassment Sexual has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Harassment Sexual 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
– Harassment Sexual 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Harassment Sexual is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Harassment Sexual has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Harassment Sexual to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Harassment Sexual is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Harassment Sexual 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Harassment Sexual 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Harassment Sexual digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Harassment Sexual 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 Harassment Sexual in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Katherine E Breward, Colleen Sharen suggests that, Harassment Sexual 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Harassment Sexual products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Harassment Sexual needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Harassment Sexual is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, it seems that the employees of Harassment Sexual 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Harassment Sexual 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, is just above the industry average. Harassment Sexual 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Harassment Sexual is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Harassment Sexual needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Harassment Sexual to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Harassment Sexual has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Harassment Sexual 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 Harassment Sexual has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, in the dynamic environment Harassment Sexual has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Harassment Sexual has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Harassment Sexual 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 Harassment Sexual to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Harassment Sexual 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Harassment Sexual to increase its market reach. Harassment Sexual 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 Harassment Sexual 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Harassment Sexual can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Harassment Sexual operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Harassment Sexual 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Harassment Sexual can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Harassment Sexual 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.
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. Harassment Sexual 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. Harassment Sexual 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.
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. Harassment Sexual can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Harassment Sexual 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.
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. Harassment Sexual can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Harassment Sexual in the consumer business. Now Harassment Sexual can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Harassment Sexual 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.
Environmental challenges
– Harassment Sexual 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. Harassment Sexual can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Harassment Sexual 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, Harassment Sexual 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Harassment Sexual
– 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 Harassment Sexual.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Harassment Sexual 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment .
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 Harassment Sexual.
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.
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 Harassment Sexual in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Harassment Sexual 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.
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. Harassment Sexual 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. Harassment Sexual 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment 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 Harassment Sexual needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
