The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation
Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s, income distribution had widened. By 2015, 20 business groups -- nearly all family-owned -- controlled one in four listed companies through corporate pyramids. Public anger over the high cost of living, which many believed was due to a lack of competition, led to a series of protests. Some academics and members of the Knesset (Parliament) called for reforms to limit the activities of corporate pyramids.
Swot Analysis of "The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation" written by Rafael Di Tella, Christine Snively includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pyramids Israelis facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation casestudy better are - – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pyramids Israelis, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pyramids Israelis 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pyramids Israelis
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 Pyramids Israelis
Strengths The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pyramids Israelis in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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.
Organizational Resilience of Pyramids Israelis
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pyramids Israelis does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Pyramids Israelis 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 Rafael Di Tella, Christine Snively 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pyramids Israelis is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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.
High brand equity
– Pyramids Israelis has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pyramids Israelis to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pyramids Israelis has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pyramids Israelis has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pyramids Israelis digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pyramids Israelis 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pyramids Israelis 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.
Learning organization
- Pyramids Israelis is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Pyramids Israelis is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Pyramids Israelis is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pyramids Israelis 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 The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pyramids Israelis in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation, is just above the industry average. Pyramids Israelis 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Pyramids Israelis has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pyramids Israelis 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, Pyramids Israelis 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pyramids Israelis has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Pyramids Israelis, firm in the HBR case study The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Pyramids Israelis has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rafael Di Tella, Christine Snively suggests that, Pyramids Israelis 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pyramids Israelis is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Pyramids Israelis supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pyramids Israelis vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pyramids Israelis 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.
Opportunities The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation | 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pyramids Israelis 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 Pyramids Israelis to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Pyramids Israelis in the consumer business. Now Pyramids Israelis can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pyramids Israelis to increase its market reach. Pyramids Israelis 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pyramids Israelis can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Pyramids Israelis can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pyramids Israelis 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pyramids Israelis 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 The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pyramids Israelis to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Pyramids Israelis can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pyramids Israelis 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
– Pyramids Israelis 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pyramids Israelis is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pyramids Israelis 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pyramids Israelis 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pyramids Israelis 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 The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation .
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 Pyramids Israelis business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Pyramids Israelis 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. Pyramids Israelis can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pyramids Israelis 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.
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 Pyramids Israelis.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pyramids Israelis 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pyramids Israelis with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Pyramids Israelis needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Pyramids Israelis
– 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 Pyramids Israelis.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pyramids Israelis 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.
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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation, Pyramids Israelis 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pyramids Israelis 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pyramids Israelis has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pyramids Israelis 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation 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 Pyramids Israelis needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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