Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.Analysis of an interview with Red Auerbach, HBR No. 87201. Alan M. Webber, who conducted the interview, probed for the lessons that Auerbach has learned from a long and productive career coaching and managing the Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The HBR article is used as a surrogate for a customer interview, providing the "raw data" for an analysis technique known as the trademarked Language Processing (LP) methodology, developed by professor Shoji Shiba of Tsukuba University and the member companies of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Center for Quality of Management. Includes color exhibits.
Swot Analysis of "Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind" written by Joseph B. Lassiter, John T. Gourville includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Auerbach Interview facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Market research, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Auerbach Interview, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Auerbach Interview 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Auerbach Interview
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 Auerbach Interview
Strengths Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Auerbach Interview in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Auerbach Interview 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Auerbach Interview has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Auerbach Interview is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Auerbach Interview to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Auerbach Interview to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Auerbach Interview in the sector have low bargaining power. Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Auerbach Interview to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Auerbach Interview is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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
– Auerbach Interview is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Auerbach Interview in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Auerbach Interview has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Auerbach Interview to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Auerbach Interview
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview 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.
Weaknesses Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Auerbach Interview 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. Auerbach Interview 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Auerbach Interview 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Auerbach Interview 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Auerbach Interview is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Auerbach Interview is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Auerbach Interview supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Auerbach Interview vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Auerbach Interview 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Auerbach Interview products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Auerbach Interview needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Auerbach Interview is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Auerbach Interview needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Auerbach Interview to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Joseph B. Lassiter, John T. Gourville suggests that, Auerbach Interview 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind, it seems that the employees of Auerbach Interview 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.
Opportunities Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind | 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Auerbach Interview 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.
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 Auerbach Interview in the consumer business. Now Auerbach Interview can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Auerbach Interview is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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
– Auerbach Interview 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Auerbach Interview 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, Auerbach Interview 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, Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Auerbach Interview 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Auerbach Interview to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind case study. Auerbach Interview can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Auerbach Interview 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.
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. Auerbach Interview 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. Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview to increase its market reach. Auerbach Interview 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.
Threats Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Auerbach Interview 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Auerbach Interview is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Auerbach Interview 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 Auerbach Interview business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Auerbach Interview can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Auerbach Interview 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind, Auerbach Interview 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 .
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
– Auerbach Interview 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. Auerbach Interview can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Auerbach Interview needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Auerbach Interview with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Auerbach Interview in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline 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 Auerbach Interview.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind 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 Auerbach Interview needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.