Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version
Anne Ewers, general director of Utah Opera, is awaiting the decision of the members of the board of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera about whether to merge Utah's top two arts organizations. If the vote favors the merger, Ewers will be asked to assume the helm of the newly created organization and take responsibility for integrating the two organizations. Challenges students to consider the merits of the merger and to develop an action plan for how Ewers would integrate the two organizations, including how to design the new firm, how to manage various constituents--many of whom are upset by the announcement--and how to create a new corporate culture. Students also need to specify what Ewers would do in the first few days if the vote were to favor merging the two organizations. Teaching Purpose: To explore the human capital issues related to mergers and acquisitions.
Swot Analysis of "Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version" written by Thomas J. DeLong, David L. Ager includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Utah Ewers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Human resource management, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Utah Ewers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Utah Ewers 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Utah Ewers
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 Utah Ewers
Strengths Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Utah Ewers in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Utah Ewers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Utah Ewers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Utah Ewers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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
– Utah Ewers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Utah Ewers in the sector have low bargaining power. Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Utah Ewers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Utah Ewers 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Utah Ewers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Utah Ewers 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.
Learning organization
- Utah Ewers 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 Utah Ewers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Utah Ewers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Utah Ewers 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Utah Ewers 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Utah Ewers has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Utah Ewers to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Utah Ewers, firm in the HBR case study Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Utah Ewers is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Utah Ewers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Utah Ewers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Utah Ewers 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Utah Ewers 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas J. DeLong, David L. Ager suggests that, Utah Ewers 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Utah Ewers 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Utah Ewers 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version HBR case study mentions - Utah Ewers takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Utah Ewers 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. Utah Ewers 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.
Opportunities Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Utah Ewers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Utah Ewers 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Utah Ewers 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, Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Utah Ewers 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Utah Ewers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Utah Ewers 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Utah Ewers 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Utah Ewers 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Utah Ewers 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 Utah Ewers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Utah Ewers can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Utah Ewers to increase its market reach. Utah Ewers 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Utah Ewers 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Utah Ewers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Utah Ewers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Utah Ewers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version case study. Utah Ewers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, Spanish Version are -
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 Utah Ewers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Utah Ewers 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Utah Ewers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Utah Ewers needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Utah Ewers
– 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 Utah Ewers.
Environmental challenges
– Utah Ewers 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. Utah Ewers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Utah Ewers can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Utah Ewers 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.
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.
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 Utah Ewers in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline 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. Utah Ewers 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Utah Ewers 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.
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. Utah Ewers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Utah Ewers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal, 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 Utah Ewers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.