What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?
This article examines disparity between business school focus and business community needs. A content analysis of 200 corporate job descriptions collected in Fall 2009 revealed 140 specific license/certification/skills commonly cited as required for candidates applying for business jobs. A detailed matching of these post-graduation proficiencies with pre-graduation business major tracks is provided herein to assist schools in better aligning curricula with job requirements. This matching and aligning process is proposed as a key means for reducing disparity between post-graduation licenses/certification/skills required and the academic tracks that are feeders for such positions. Examination of 200 rA?sumA?s of business students nearing graduation revealed low to no proficiency on the job description-derived skill sets. This finding suggests that disparity between school of business focus and practitioner needs is ongoing and potentially problematic, at least at the institutions sampled. A content analysis of 100 school of business course syllabi and 20 textbooks supported this conclusion. This article provides suggestions for closing the gap between business school curricula and corporate needs. The old business school is compared to our vision of the new business school, where close alignment of pre-graduation training with post-graduation job requirements serves both students and practitioners well.
Authors :: Fred R. David, Meredith E. David, Forest R. David
Swot Analysis of "What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?" written by Fred R. David, Meredith E. David, Forest R. David includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Graduation Disparity facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Social enterprise and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Graduation Disparity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Graduation Disparity 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Graduation Disparity
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 Graduation Disparity
Strengths What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Graduation Disparity in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Graduation Disparity 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 Graduation Disparity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Graduation Disparity in the sector have low bargaining power. What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Graduation Disparity to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Graduation Disparity 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Graduation Disparity
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Graduation Disparity does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Graduation Disparity 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Graduation Disparity is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Graduation Disparity in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Graduation Disparity has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Graduation Disparity 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.
High brand equity
– Graduation Disparity has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Graduation Disparity to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Graduation Disparity is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Graduation Disparity 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Graduation Disparity 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 Graduation Disparity in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Graduation Disparity 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Graduation Disparity is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Graduation Disparity needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Graduation Disparity to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Graduation Disparity is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? HBR case study mentions - Graduation Disparity 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, Graduation Disparity 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. Graduation Disparity 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Graduation Disparity 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?, it seems that the employees of Graduation Disparity 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Graduation Disparity products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Graduation Disparity needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Graduation Disparity 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Graduation Disparity 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?, 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.
Opportunities What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? | 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? are -
Buying journey improvements
– Graduation Disparity can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Graduation Disparity 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Graduation Disparity can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Graduation Disparity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Graduation Disparity to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? case study. Graduation Disparity can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Graduation Disparity in the consumer business. Now Graduation Disparity can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Graduation Disparity can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Graduation Disparity 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, What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?, 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 Graduation Disparity 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Graduation Disparity 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.
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. Graduation Disparity can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Graduation Disparity 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
– Graduation Disparity 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, Graduation Disparity can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Graduation Disparity operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Threats What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? are -
Regulatory challenges
– Graduation Disparity 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Graduation Disparity 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.
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. Graduation Disparity 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Graduation Disparity 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Graduation Disparity has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Graduation Disparity 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.
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.
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. Graduation Disparity needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Graduation Disparity can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Graduation Disparity 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. Graduation Disparity can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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.
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 Graduation Disparity.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today?, Graduation Disparity 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 Graduation Disparity
– 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 Graduation Disparity.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 What are Business Schools Doing for Business Today? 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 Graduation Disparity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.