The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work
Morning Star, a collection of affiliated companies, had grown steadily since 1970 when Chris Rufer, president and founder, started the business hauling tomatoes to processing plants in a truck. The company's main products continued to be tomato-based, including a 40% share in the tomato paste and diced tomato market in 2013. Different from traditional manufacturing companies, Morning Star relied on self-management to execute the work in any part of the organization. The company was built on individual freedom, with the expectation that employees would take responsibility for holding their peers accountable and address performance failures directly. The case explores how the company can establish a compensation model that fairly compensates employees for their performance and provides a broad incentive to hold others accountable, while being consistent with self-management. This case includes color exhibits.
Swot Analysis of "The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work" written by Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tomato Morning facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Executive compensation, Manufacturing, Marketing, Motivating people, Personnel policies, Workspaces and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tomato Morning, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tomato Morning 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tomato Morning
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 Tomato Morning
Strengths The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tomato Morning in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Tomato Morning 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 Tomato Morning in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Tomato Morning has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Tomato Morning is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Tomato Morning 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 Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats 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
– Tomato Morning has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tomato Morning 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tomato Morning has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Tomato Morning 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 Tomato Morning digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tomato Morning 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.
Learning organization
- Tomato Morning 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 Tomato Morning is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tomato Morning is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tomato Morning to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tomato Morning to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 Tomato Morning 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, is just above the industry average. Tomato Morning 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats suggests that, Tomato Morning 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tomato Morning is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Tomato Morning 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.
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 Tomato Morning supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tomato Morning vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tomato Morning 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, it seems that the employees of Tomato Morning 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, in the dynamic environment Tomato Morning has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tomato Morning has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tomato Morning, firm in the HBR case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Tomato Morning 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 - The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work | 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tomato Morning 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tomato Morning is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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.
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 Tomato Morning 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Tomato Morning 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tomato Morning 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tomato Morning 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.
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. Tomato Morning can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tomato Morning 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 Tomato Morning to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tomato Morning can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tomato Morning operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Tomato Morning 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tomato Morning to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Tomato Morning can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tomato Morning 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, The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tomato Morning 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.
Threats The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tomato Morning 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 Tomato Morning in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Tomato Morning 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.
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 Tomato Morning business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work, Tomato Morning 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 .
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 Tomato Morning.
Regulatory challenges
– Tomato Morning 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.
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. Tomato Morning can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Tomato Morning 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.
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. Tomato Morning needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tomato Morning 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tomato Morning has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tomato Morning needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work 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 Tomato Morning needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
