BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division
Roger Cahill has spent less than a year as head of the Mobile Division of BoldFlash, a flash memory component maker. On the corporate level, BoldFlash has adapted to an evolving and difficult marketplace, but the Mobile Division is struggling. The four groups within the unit refuse to work together, and the unit recently failed to capitalize on an important new product opportunity. To address the problems, Cahill has made a number of organizational and personnel changes since taking the helm. Facing low morale and eroding margins, Cahill is under pressure to meet his next challenge-reforming the product development process in an effort to save the Division.
Swot Analysis of "BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division" written by Michael Beer, Rachel Shelton includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Boldflash Cahill facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Conflict, Human resource management, Leadership, Motivating people, Organizational structure, Product development, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Boldflash Cahill, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Boldflash Cahill 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Boldflash Cahill
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 Boldflash Cahill
Strengths BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Boldflash Cahill in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Boldflash Cahill 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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
– BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Boldflash Cahill to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Boldflash Cahill to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Boldflash Cahill is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Boldflash Cahill has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Boldflash Cahill 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Boldflash Cahill is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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.
Organizational Resilience of Boldflash Cahill
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Boldflash Cahill does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Boldflash Cahill has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Boldflash Cahill to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Boldflash Cahill 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 Boldflash Cahill is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Boldflash Cahill digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Boldflash Cahill 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Boldflash Cahill is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Boldflash Cahill 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 Michael Beer, Rachel Shelton 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.
Weaknesses BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, it seems that the employees of Boldflash Cahill 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Boldflash Cahill 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Boldflash Cahill 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Boldflash Cahill has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Boldflash Cahill even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division HBR case study mentions - Boldflash Cahill 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Boldflash Cahill is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, in the dynamic environment Boldflash Cahill has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Boldflash Cahill has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Boldflash Cahill is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Boldflash Cahill is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Boldflash Cahill needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Boldflash Cahill to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, is just above the industry average. Boldflash Cahill 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.
Opportunities BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division | 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division are -
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. Boldflash Cahill 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. Boldflash Cahill 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.
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 Boldflash Cahill in the consumer business. Now Boldflash Cahill can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Boldflash Cahill can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Boldflash Cahill 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 Boldflash Cahill to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Boldflash Cahill 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Boldflash Cahill 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Boldflash Cahill 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Boldflash Cahill 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, BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Boldflash Cahill is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Boldflash Cahill 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Boldflash Cahill 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Boldflash Cahill has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Boldflash Cahill to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division case study. Boldflash Cahill can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Boldflash Cahill can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Boldflash Cahill has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Boldflash Cahill 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Boldflash Cahill 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Boldflash Cahill with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Boldflash Cahill 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division, Boldflash Cahill 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 .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Boldflash Cahill needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Boldflash Cahill needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Boldflash Cahill 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Boldflash Cahill 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Boldflash Cahill is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Boldflash Cahill 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.
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. Boldflash Cahill 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division 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 Boldflash Cahill needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.