Case Study Description of Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom
After rising through the ranks of Corporate America, Beth Stewart has become a corporate director on the board of General Growth Properties. Stewart is struggling with how to address her mounting concerns over the financial health of the growing large publically traded real estate investment trust (REIT) to her fellow board members and company management. The case explores interpersonal communications, influencing one's peers, leadership style, and board dynamics. The case also chronicles Stewart's career progression focusing on different stages including work/life choices she made as a wife and mother of five children.
Swot Analysis of "Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom" written by Boris Groysberg, Deborah Bell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stewart Beth facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Communication, Gender, Leadership, Strategic planning, Work-life balance and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stewart Beth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stewart Beth 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stewart Beth
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 Stewart Beth
Strengths Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stewart Beth in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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.
Learning organization
- Stewart Beth 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 Stewart Beth is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Stewart Beth has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stewart Beth is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Stewart Beth
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Stewart Beth does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stewart Beth in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Stewart Beth digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Stewart Beth 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Stewart Beth 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 Stewart Beth in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Stewart Beth is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Stewart Beth 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom - 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
– Stewart Beth 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 Boris Groysberg, Deborah Bell 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stewart Beth to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stewart Beth to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Stewart Beth 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stewart Beth is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom, 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 Stewart Beth 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.
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 Stewart Beth supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stewart Beth vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom, it seems that the employees of Stewart Beth don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Stewart Beth is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Boris Groysberg, Deborah Bell suggests that, Stewart Beth 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom HBR case study mentions - Stewart Beth takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Stewart Beth 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Stewart Beth products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stewart Beth needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom | 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Stewart Beth has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Stewart Beth to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom case study. Stewart Beth can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stewart Beth is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Stewart Beth to increase its market reach. Stewart Beth 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.
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 Stewart Beth in the consumer business. Now Stewart Beth can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stewart Beth 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Stewart Beth 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stewart Beth 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Stewart Beth 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Stewart Beth 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. Stewart Beth 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. Stewart Beth 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stewart Beth to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stewart Beth 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stewart Beth to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Stewart Beth can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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.
Threats Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stewart Beth 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.
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. Stewart Beth 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stewart Beth 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.
Environmental challenges
– Stewart Beth 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. Stewart Beth 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stewart Beth 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stewart Beth 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.
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 Stewart Beth 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 Stewart Beth in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom, Stewart Beth 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Stewart Beth 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stewart Beth is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stewart Beth has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stewart Beth 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom 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 Stewart Beth needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.