Case Study Description of Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive
In May 1992, Intel Corp., the leading supplier of microprocessors for IBM-compatible personal computers, announced the retail availability of OverDrive processors, a new line of performance upgrades for the Intel 486 series of microprocessors. The case chronicles the evolution of Intel microprocessors and math coprocessors. Next, it describes the genesis of the "speed-doubling" technique that is employed in the OverDrive Processor and it details the important implementation issues. The central questions are the following: How does a firm manage a product line in the context of rapid technological change? What are the consequences--for the end users, and hence the system and component manufacturers--of rapid product change? How does product upgradability help mitigate some of these consequences? How should Intel develop the OverDrive business? And how will this affect the company's mainline microprocessor business?
Swot Analysis of "Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive" written by Anirudh Dhebar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Overdrive Intel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Marketing, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Overdrive Intel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Overdrive Intel 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Overdrive Intel
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 Overdrive Intel
Strengths Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Overdrive Intel in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Overdrive Intel 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.
Learning organization
- Overdrive Intel 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 Overdrive Intel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Overdrive Intel in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Overdrive Intel is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Overdrive Intel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Overdrive Intel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Overdrive Intel is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Overdrive Intel 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Overdrive Intel in the sector have low bargaining power. Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Overdrive Intel to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Overdrive Intel 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Overdrive Intel to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Overdrive Intel to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Overdrive Intel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Overdrive Intel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Overdrive Intel 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive, it seems that the employees of Overdrive Intel 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Overdrive Intel 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive HBR case study mentions - Overdrive Intel 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Overdrive Intel 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Overdrive Intel 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive, is just above the industry average. Overdrive Intel needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Overdrive Intel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Overdrive Intel is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Overdrive Intel 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anirudh Dhebar suggests that, Overdrive Intel 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.
Opportunities Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive | 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive are -
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. Overdrive Intel 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. Overdrive Intel 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Overdrive Intel to increase its market reach. Overdrive Intel 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Overdrive Intel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Overdrive Intel 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 Overdrive Intel to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Overdrive Intel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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.
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 Overdrive Intel 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Overdrive Intel 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Overdrive Intel 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Overdrive Intel can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Overdrive Intel 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Overdrive Intel 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Overdrive Intel can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Overdrive Intel operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Overdrive Intel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Overdrive Intel 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive, Overdrive Intel may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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.
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 Overdrive Intel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Overdrive Intel 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Overdrive Intel is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Overdrive Intel
– 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 Overdrive Intel.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Overdrive Intel 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.
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 Overdrive Intel in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Overdrive Intel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Overdrive Intel 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.
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. Overdrive Intel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Overdrive Intel 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. Overdrive Intel can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Intel Corp.: Going into OverDrive 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 Overdrive Intel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.