The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling
This note presents a framework and tool for leading fundamental systemic change in organizations and beyond. It identifies the 10 key elements of systemic change and arrays them along the spokes of a wheel, which suggests momentum and an interconnected rather than linear process for changing systems. All spokes must be engaged and then re-engaged to keep change moving. The practical model shows how spokes are related and reinforce one another and also presents a logical order for connecting them.
Swot Analysis of "The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Spokes Systemic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Leadership and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Spokes Systemic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Spokes Systemic 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Spokes Systemic
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 Spokes Systemic
Strengths The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Spokes Systemic in The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Spokes Systemic in the sector have low bargaining power. The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Spokes Systemic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Spokes Systemic 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Spokes Systemic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Spokes Systemic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Spokes Systemic 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.
Organizational Resilience of Spokes Systemic
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Spokes Systemic does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Spokes Systemic 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Spokes Systemic 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling - 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
– Spokes Systemic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Spokes Systemic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Spokes Systemic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Spokes Systemic 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 The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Spokes Systemic 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 Spokes Systemic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Spokes Systemic 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. Spokes Systemic 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling, it seems that the employees of Spokes Systemic 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rosabeth Moss Kanter suggests that, Spokes Systemic 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Spokes Systemic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Spokes Systemic 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling, in the dynamic environment Spokes Systemic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Spokes Systemic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Spokes Systemic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Spokes Systemic 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Spokes Systemic 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Spokes Systemic, firm in the HBR case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling | 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Spokes Systemic 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Spokes Systemic 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Spokes Systemic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Spokes Systemic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling case study. Spokes Systemic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Spokes Systemic 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Spokes Systemic 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Spokes Systemic in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Spokes Systemic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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.
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. Spokes Systemic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Spokes Systemic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Spokes Systemic 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Spokes Systemic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Spokes Systemic 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Spokes Systemic 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, Spokes Systemic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Spokes Systemic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Threats The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Spokes Systemic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Spokes Systemic in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Spokes Systemic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Spokes Systemic 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.
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 Spokes Systemic.
Increasing wage structure of Spokes Systemic
– 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 Spokes Systemic.
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 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.
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. Spokes Systemic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Spokes Systemic 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.
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. Spokes Systemic 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.
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 Spokes Systemic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Spokes Systemic is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Spokes Systemic 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. Spokes Systemic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Change Wheel: Elements of Systemic Change and How to Get Change Rolling 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 Spokes Systemic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
