The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT
A two-party negotiation between an Agent representing a new author and an Editor at a large Publishing Firm. The exercise involves a 1-issue, zero-sum negotiation concerning the advance on royalties that the publisher will pay to the author.
Swot Analysis of "The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT" written by Deepak Malhotra, Max H. Bazerman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Agent Author facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Agent Author, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Agent Author
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 Agent Author
Strengths The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Agent Author in The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Agent Author
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Agent Author does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Agent Author 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 Deepak Malhotra, Max H. Bazerman 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Agent Author is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Agent Author is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Agent Author to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Agent Author to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Agent Author 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Agent Author 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
– Agent Author is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Agent Author 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 The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT, it seems that the employees of Agent Author don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on 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 Agent Author supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Agent Author vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Agent Author 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Agent Author 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Agent Author products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Agent Author needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Agent Author is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Agent Author 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. Agent Author 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT HBR case study mentions - Agent Author 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Deepak Malhotra, Max H. Bazerman suggests that, Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT | 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Agent Author 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.
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. Agent Author can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Agent Author 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Agent Author 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. Agent Author 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Agent Author 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Agent Author can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Agent Author to increase its market reach. Agent Author 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Agent Author 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Agent Author in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Agent Author to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Agent Author 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Agent Author is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Agent Author can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Agent Author operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT are -
Increasing wage structure of Agent Author
– 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 Agent Author.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT, Agent Author may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Agent Author 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Agent Author 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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. Agent Author 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.
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 Agent Author in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Agent Author 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Agent Author in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Agent Author 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.
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 Agent Author 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, Agent Author 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT .
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. Agent Author needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT 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 Agent Author needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
