HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee
Accompanied by product #PON254Two-party, multi-issue negotiation between a human resources director and a prospective employee over terms of hire that highlight cultural differences. This is a negotiation between a recently hired computer programmer and a Human Resources Director regarding the new employee's salary, benefits, and start date. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee" written by Robert Smith, Ericka Gray includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Prospective Pon254two facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Negotiations, Personnel policies and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Prospective Pon254two, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Prospective Pon254two 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Prospective Pon254two
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 Prospective Pon254two
Strengths HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Prospective Pon254two in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Prospective Pon254two 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
– Prospective Pon254two is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 Prospective Pon254two in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Prospective Pon254two
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Prospective Pon254two does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Prospective Pon254two to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Prospective Pon254two to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Prospective Pon254two 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 Prospective Pon254two is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Prospective Pon254two 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Prospective Pon254two 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Prospective Pon254two digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Prospective Pon254two has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Prospective Pon254two in the sector have low bargaining power. HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Prospective Pon254two to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Prospective Pon254two is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Prospective Pon254two 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Prospective Pon254two is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee, in the dynamic environment Prospective Pon254two has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Prospective Pon254two has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Prospective Pon254two 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Prospective Pon254two 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Prospective Pon254two products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Prospective Pon254two needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Prospective Pon254two 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Prospective Pon254two 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 - HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert Smith, Ericka Gray suggests that, Prospective Pon254two 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Prospective Pon254two 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee, it seems that the employees of Prospective Pon254two 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee | 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Prospective Pon254two can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Prospective Pon254two operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Prospective Pon254two can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Prospective Pon254two 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.
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. Prospective Pon254two can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Prospective Pon254two has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Prospective Pon254two to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee case study. Prospective Pon254two can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Prospective Pon254two 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Prospective Pon254two is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Prospective Pon254two 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Prospective Pon254two 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, HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Prospective Pon254two 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
– Prospective Pon254two can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 Prospective Pon254two to increase its market reach. Prospective Pon254two 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Prospective Pon254two 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.
Threats HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Prospective Pon254two 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Prospective Pon254two 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Prospective Pon254two 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Prospective Pon254two 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. Prospective Pon254two 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Prospective Pon254two 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.
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. Prospective Pon254two can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Prospective Pon254two with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Prospective Pon254two needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Prospective Pon254two 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. Prospective Pon254two can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Prospective Pon254two
– 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 Prospective Pon254two.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 HIRING A NEWTONIAN - Confidential Instructions for the Prospective Employee 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 Prospective Pon254two needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.