Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies
The creation of Lucent Technologies was the result of AT&T's "trivestiture" in 1995. In this split, three companies were formed: AT&T, a $50 billion telecommunications services company; NCR, a computer firm; and an unnamed $20 billion "Systems and Technology" company that designed, built, and delivered a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, consumer and business telephone systems, and microelectronics components. Given that AT&T was one of the largest, oldest, and best known corporations in the world, the new "S&T" company's management was faced with a series of strategic issues which had to be resolved quickly. Presents the process used by the company and its corporate identity consultants to identify corporate values that were important in the marketplace, to create a name for the company, to design a logo and identity system, and to implement the strategy. Also provides an opportunity to follow the process used by a company at the time of change in its identity and positioning in the marketplace. Such change may come as the result of a merger, acquisition, new alliance or, as in this case, the result of a spin-off. Comparing this process to the one generally followed in the formation of a truly new "start-up" venture; analyzing the effect of business, financial, and regulatory pressures on the process; and examining the role of consultants and research in the development of a name and visual identity for the company. Comparisons to current publicized examples of identity change can foster meaningful debate in the classroom.
Swot Analysis of "Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Peter L. Phillips includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Identity Lucent facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, IT, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization,
technology disruption, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Identity Lucent, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Identity Lucent 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Identity Lucent
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Identity Lucent
Strengths Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Identity Lucent in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Identity Lucent 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Identity Lucent has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Identity Lucent to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Identity Lucent to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Identity Lucent to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Identity Lucent 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 Identity Lucent is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Identity Lucent 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.
Organizational Resilience of Identity Lucent
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Identity Lucent does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Identity Lucent has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Identity Lucent 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Identity Lucent is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Identity Lucent 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies - 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
– Identity Lucent is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Identity Lucent is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Identity Lucent 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 Stephen A. Greyser, Peter L. Phillips 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.
Weaknesses Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Identity Lucent 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Identity Lucent has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies, it seems that the employees of Identity Lucent 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Identity Lucent has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Identity Lucent 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, Stephen A. Greyser, Peter L. Phillips suggests that, Identity Lucent 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 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 Identity Lucent supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Identity Lucent vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Identity Lucent 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. Identity Lucent 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies, is just above the industry average. Identity Lucent 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Identity Lucent 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 - Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Identity Lucent 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.
Opportunities Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies | 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies are -
Manufacturing automation
– Identity Lucent can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
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 Identity Lucent 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 Identity Lucent has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Identity Lucent to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies case study. Identity Lucent can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Identity Lucent can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Identity Lucent can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Identity Lucent operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Identity Lucent 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Identity Lucent 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Identity Lucent 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Identity Lucent 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Identity Lucent to increase its market reach. Identity Lucent 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Identity Lucent can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Identity Lucent can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Identity Lucent can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Identity Lucent 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Identity Lucent to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies are -
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. Identity Lucent 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 Identity Lucent in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
Environmental challenges
– Identity Lucent 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. Identity Lucent can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Identity Lucent 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Identity Lucent is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Identity Lucent business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Identity Lucent 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Identity Lucent with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Identity Lucent has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Identity Lucent needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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. Identity Lucent needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Identity Lucent 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Creating a Corporate Identity for a $20 Billion Start-up: Lucent Technologies 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 Identity Lucent needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.