Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case
An interpersonal and systems case in which Jim Davis, who holds a staff position, is responsible for results that can be achieved only through influencing line (branch) managers over whom he has no direct authority. Lends itself to role plays of different kinds, yielding useful insights into the process of influence without direct authority.
Swot Analysis of "Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case" written by Danny J. Mainolfi, Allan Cohen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Davis Jim facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Influence, Leadership, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Davis Jim, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Davis Jim 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Davis Jim
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 Davis Jim
Strengths Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Davis Jim in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Davis Jim 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 Davis Jim is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Davis Jim 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 Danny J. Mainolfi, Allan Cohen can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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
– Davis Jim has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Davis Jim 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.
Organizational Resilience of Davis Jim
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Davis Jim does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Davis Jim is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Davis Jim to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Davis Jim to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Davis Jim is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Davis Jim 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 Davis Jim in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Davis Jim 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Davis Jim in the sector have low bargaining power. Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Davis Jim to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Davis Jim is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Davis Jim has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Davis Jim products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Davis Jim needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Davis Jim, firm in the HBR case study Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Davis Jim 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Davis Jim 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Davis Jim 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case HBR case study mentions - Davis Jim 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case, is just above the industry average. Davis Jim 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Davis Jim is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Davis Jim needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Davis Jim to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Davis Jim 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case, it seems that the employees of Davis Jim 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.
Opportunities Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case | 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case are -
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. Davis Jim can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Davis Jim can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Davis Jim 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Davis Jim 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Davis Jim 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, Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case, 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
– Davis Jim can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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.
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 Davis Jim 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Davis Jim is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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.
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. Davis Jim 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. Davis Jim 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Davis Jim can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Davis Jim operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Davis Jim 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Davis Jim has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Davis Jim to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case case study. Davis Jim 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 Davis Jim can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case, Davis Jim 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 Davis Jim
– 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 Davis Jim.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Davis Jim is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Davis Jim in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Davis Jim 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. Davis Jim can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Davis Jim needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Davis Jim business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Davis Jim.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Davis Jim 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Davis Jim high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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. Davis Jim 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Davis Jim 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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 Who's in Charge?: The Jim Davis Case 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 Davis Jim needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.