Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version
A manager recounts his experience firing the person he was asked to replace and reflects on the challenges of the experience. Teaching Purpose: To role-play and reflect on tasks that entail harming other people to fulfill one's responsibility.
Swot Analysis of "Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version" written by Joshua D. Margolis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Firing Robins facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Leadership, Managing people, Professional transitions and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Firing Robins, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Firing Robins 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Firing Robins
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 Firing Robins
Strengths Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Firing Robins in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Firing Robins 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Firing Robins 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Firing Robins in the sector have low bargaining power. Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Firing Robins to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Firing Robins is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Firing Robins has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Firing Robins to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Firing Robins 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 Firing Robins in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Firing Robins is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Firing Robins digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Firing Robins 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.
Analytics focus
– Firing Robins 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 Joshua D. Margolis 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Firing Robins has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Firing Robins 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.
Training and development
– Firing Robins has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Firing Robins is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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.
Weaknesses Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Firing Robins is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Firing Robins 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Joshua D. Margolis suggests that, Firing Robins 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Firing Robins 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Firing Robins, firm in the HBR case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Firing Robins has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Firing Robins 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Firing Robins 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Firing Robins 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. Firing Robins 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Firing Robins products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Firing Robins needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version | 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Firing Robins 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Firing Robins to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Firing Robins can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Firing Robins can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Firing Robins is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Firing Robins 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, Firing Robins 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, Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Firing Robins 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Firing Robins has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Firing Robins to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version case study. Firing Robins can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Firing Robins to increase its market reach. Firing Robins 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Firing Robins 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Firing Robins can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Firing Robins operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Firing Robins 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.
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 Firing Robins in the consumer business. Now Firing Robins can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version are -
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. Firing Robins can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Firing Robins 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version .
Regulatory challenges
– Firing Robins 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Firing Robins 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.
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 Firing Robins in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Firing Robins business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Firing Robins has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Firing Robins 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Firing Robins 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.
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 Firing Robins.
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. Firing Robins needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version, Firing Robins 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Firing Robins 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 wage structure of Firing Robins
– 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 Firing Robins.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B), Spanish Version 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 Firing Robins needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.