Case Study Description of Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co.
Examines the recruiting process of Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. (BHC), an investment banking firm known for its work with middle market companies. Specifically, presents a profile of the firm and its recruiting process and then examines that process through the firm's recruiting efforts at Harvard Business School (HBS). Includes the resumes of 17 second-year HBS students who sought interviews for an associate position with BHC and raises the issue of how interview selections were made from those resumes.
Authors :: John J. Gabarro, Andrew Burtis, Herminia Ibarra, John P. Kotter
Swot Analysis of "Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co." written by John J. Gabarro, Andrew Burtis, Herminia Ibarra, John P. Kotter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Recruiting Bhc facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Talent management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Recruiting Bhc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Recruiting Bhc
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 Recruiting Bhc
Strengths Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Recruiting Bhc in Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Recruiting Bhc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting Bhc in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Recruiting Bhc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Recruiting Bhc 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Recruiting Bhc 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Recruiting Bhc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Recruiting Bhc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Recruiting Bhc 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 John J. Gabarro, Andrew Burtis, Herminia Ibarra, John P. Kotter can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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.
High brand equity
– Recruiting Bhc has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Recruiting Bhc to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Recruiting Bhc
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Recruiting Bhc does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Recruiting Bhc in the sector have low bargaining power. Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Recruiting Bhc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Recruiting Bhc, firm in the HBR case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Recruiting Bhc is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Recruiting Bhc 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Recruiting Bhc 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 - Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., is just above the industry average. Recruiting Bhc needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting Bhc 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John J. Gabarro, Andrew Burtis, Herminia Ibarra, John P. Kotter suggests that, Recruiting Bhc is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Recruiting Bhc has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Recruiting Bhc 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Recruiting Bhc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. | 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Recruiting Bhc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting Bhc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Recruiting Bhc can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Recruiting Bhc to increase its market reach. Recruiting Bhc 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Recruiting Bhc has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Recruiting Bhc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Recruiting Bhc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Recruiting Bhc 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. Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting Bhc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Recruiting Bhc to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. case study. Recruiting Bhc can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting Bhc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Recruiting Bhc 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Recruiting Bhc 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.
Threats Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. are -
Regulatory challenges
– Recruiting Bhc 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.
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. Recruiting Bhc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co., Recruiting Bhc 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Recruiting Bhc 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Recruiting Bhc 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Recruiting Bhc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Recruiting Bhc
– 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 Recruiting Bhc.
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. Recruiting Bhc 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.
Environmental challenges
– Recruiting Bhc 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. Recruiting Bhc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Recruiting Bhc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Recruiting Bhc in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Recruiting Bhc 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. 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 Recruiting Bhc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
