Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards
In 2011, Sarah NaudA? and Matt Stanley sat down with the chairman of Telecom New Zealand, Wayne Boyd. Telecom, a publicly listed company and the largest telecom provider in New Zealand, was being divided into two publicly traded companies, Chorus, a telecom infrastructure company, and new Telecom, a telecom retail services provider. In connection with this split, NaudA? and Stanley were charged with overseeing the process of creating two new boards of directors for these companies. As part of this process, the team reviews the roles and responsibilities of a board, defines what capabilities the new boards need, and reduces a preliminary list of candidates to a short list. They must now use this short list to create two strong boards.
Swot Analysis of "Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards" written by Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Telecom Boards facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Customers, Decision making, Diversity, Human resource management, Influence, IT, Leadership, Organizational structure, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Telecom Boards, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Telecom Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Telecom Boards
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 Telecom Boards
Strengths Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Telecom Boards in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Telecom Boards has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Telecom Boards has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Telecom Boards 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 Telecom Boards in the sector have low bargaining power. Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Telecom Boards to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Telecom Boards is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Telecom Boards 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Telecom Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Telecom Boards 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 Telecom Boards is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Telecom Boards 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 Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Telecom Boards is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Telecom Boards 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 Telecom Boards in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Telecom Boards is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Telecom Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Telecom Boards 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Telecom Boards 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Telecom Boards is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards HBR case study mentions - Telecom Boards 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Telecom Boards products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Telecom Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Telecom Boards is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Telecom Boards 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Telecom Boards 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 - Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Telecom Boards 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. Telecom Boards 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.
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 Telecom Boards supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Telecom Boards vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards, 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.
Opportunities Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards | 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Telecom Boards can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Telecom Boards can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Telecom Boards operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Telecom Boards is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Telecom Boards 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Telecom Boards 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Telecom Boards to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Telecom Boards to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Telecom Boards 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Telecom Boards can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Telecom Boards 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Telecom Boards 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.
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 Telecom Boards in the consumer business. Now Telecom Boards 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 Telecom Boards has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Telecom Boards to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards case study. Telecom Boards can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Telecom Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Telecom Boards to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards are -
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. Telecom Boards can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Telecom Boards has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Telecom Boards 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Telecom Boards 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Telecom Boards 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Telecom Boards 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.
Increasing wage structure of Telecom Boards
– 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 Telecom Boards.
Environmental challenges
– Telecom Boards 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. Telecom Boards can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution 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. Telecom Boards needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Telecom Boards in the Strategy & Execution 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 Telecom Boards.
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 Telecom Boards business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards 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 Telecom Boards needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.