THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant
Accompanied by product #PON474.Two-party contract negotiation between a computer consultant and a school district representative at an apparent impasse over different expectations over cost of services. A school district and a computer consultant are negotiating a potential contract for repair of the school district's failed computer network. Both parties are eager to work with each other: the consultant's qualifications appear perfect for the school district's needs, and the school district would help the consultant connect with additional governmental clients. After a fair amount of negotiation, however, the parties find themselves at an impasse: the consultant's bid (which the consultant feels is very low) is considerably higher than the school's budget for this project. The consultant and a school representative have agreed to meet one last time in an effort to salvage the deal. This simulation happens to involve a consulting contract, but the negotiation lessons are generic. The exercise can be used simply to illustrate the importance of the creative, option-generating aspect of negotiation. More importantly, it can also be used as the principal vehicle for presenting integrative theory more broadly. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant" written by Program on Negotiation includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Consultant School facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Negotiations, Pricing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Consultant School, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Consultant School 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Consultant School
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Consultant School
Strengths THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Consultant School in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Consultant School 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 Program on Negotiation 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Consultant School 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Consultant School is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Consultant School in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Consultant School in the sector have low bargaining power. THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Consultant School to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Consultant School 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Consultant School 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Consultant School
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Consultant School does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Consultant School 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 Consultant School is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Consultant School is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Consultant School has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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.
High brand equity
– Consultant School has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Consultant School to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Consultant School 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 - THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Consultant School is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Consultant School 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Consultant School 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant, it seems that the employees of Consultant School 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 Consultant School 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Consultant School 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. Consultant School 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Consultant School products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Consultant School needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Consultant School 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Consultant School 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Program on Negotiation suggests that, Consultant School 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 THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant | 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant are -
Loyalty marketing
– Consultant School 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Consultant School 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Consultant School to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Consultant School can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Consultant School can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Consultant School can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Consultant School 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.
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 Consultant School in the consumer business. Now Consultant School can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Consultant School has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Consultant School to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant case study. Consultant School can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Consultant School can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Consultant School is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Consultant School to increase its market reach. Consultant School 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Consultant School can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Consultant School can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Consultant School operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant are -
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Consultant School 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.
Environmental challenges
– Consultant School 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. Consultant School can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Consultant School 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Consultant School is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Consultant School has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Consultant School needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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 Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Consultant School can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Consultant School 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 THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant .
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. Consultant School 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 Consultant School business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Consultant School needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Consultant School.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Consultant School 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of THE TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 TENDLEY CONTRACT - Confidential Information for the Consultant 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 Consultant School needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
