Case Study Description of Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Most management advice today--whether it's from books or articles, prescribed in courses or by consultants--says that change is good and more change is better. Advice on how to change varies quite a bit, but it has three features in common: "Creative destruction" is its motto. "Change or perish" is its justification. And "no pain, no change" is its rationale for overcoming a purportedly innate human resistance to change. The author admits that creative destruction may be necessary, and even preferable, in certain situations. Companies that have enjoyed captive markets, docile suppliers, and government support may need the rude awakening it provides. In such instances, organizational stability is so ingrained that creative destruction may even be the best way to achieve change with the least amount of pain. But for every change avoider today, he says, there are many more "change-aholics"--companies that have changed more aggressively, quickly, and repeatedly than any organization could hope to do successfully. In the process, they have often suffered from "more pain, less change." The author urges executives at such companies to monitor their organizations continually for symptoms of repetitive change syndrome: initiative overload, change-related chaos, employee cynicism, and burnout.
Swot Analysis of "Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome" written by Eric Abrahamson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Change Destruction facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Leadership, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Change Destruction, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Change Destruction 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Change Destruction
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 Change Destruction
Strengths Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Change Destruction in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Change Destruction 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Change Destruction is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Change Destruction is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Change Destruction
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Change Destruction does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Change Destruction 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 Change Destruction in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Change Destruction digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Change Destruction 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 recruit top talent
– Change Destruction is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Change Destruction 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 Change Destruction is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Change Destruction in the sector have low bargaining power. Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Change Destruction to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Change Destruction has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Change Destruction in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Change Destruction is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome are -
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 Change Destruction supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Change Destruction vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Change Destruction, firm in the HBR case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Change Destruction 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Eric Abrahamson suggests that, Change Destruction 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, in the dynamic environment Change Destruction has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Change Destruction 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Change Destruction products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Change Destruction needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Change Destruction is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, is just above the industry average. Change Destruction 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Change Destruction 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Change Destruction 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.
Opportunities Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome | 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Change Destruction 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Change Destruction can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Change Destruction 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. Change Destruction 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Change Destruction 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Change Destruction 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, Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Change Destruction has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Change Destruction to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome case study. Change Destruction can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Change Destruction can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Change Destruction 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 Change Destruction to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Change Destruction is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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.
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. Change Destruction can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Change Destruction can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Change Destruction operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Change Destruction can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Change Destruction to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Change Destruction is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome, Change Destruction may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Increasing wage structure of Change Destruction
– 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 Change Destruction.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Change Destruction 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 Change Destruction 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.
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 Change Destruction in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Change Destruction has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Change Destruction 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.
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. Change Destruction can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Change Destruction 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Change Destruction 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome .
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 Change Destruction business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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 Avoiding Repetitive Change Syndrome 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 Change Destruction needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.