Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century
The case entitled 'Lessons from Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century' illustrates how businesses over the last 100 years have periodically broken away from the competition to create and capture new market space - often giving rise to entirely new industries. Yet, to date, there is very little understanding of the underlying strategic logic behind these breakthrough strategic moves. This case and its accompanying video examines whether there is a shared pattern across these strategic moves by examining three representative industries that touch peoples' everyday lives: autos - how people get to work; computers - what people use at work; and movie theaters - where people go after work for entertainment.
Authors :: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Jason Hunter
Swot Analysis of "Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century" written by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Jason Hunter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Moves Breakthrough facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Moves Breakthrough, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Moves Breakthrough 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Moves Breakthrough
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 Moves Breakthrough
Strengths Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Moves Breakthrough in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Moves Breakthrough 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 lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Moves Breakthrough 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 Moves Breakthrough in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Moves Breakthrough 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 Moves Breakthrough is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Moves Breakthrough
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Moves Breakthrough does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Moves Breakthrough is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Moves Breakthrough in the sector have low bargaining power. Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Moves Breakthrough to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Moves Breakthrough in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Moves Breakthrough is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Moves Breakthrough is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Moves Breakthrough has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Moves Breakthrough 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.
Analytics focus
– Moves Breakthrough 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 W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Jason Hunter 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.
High brand equity
– Moves Breakthrough has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Moves Breakthrough to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Moves Breakthrough has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Moves Breakthrough is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Moves Breakthrough needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Moves Breakthrough to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century, it seems that the employees of Moves Breakthrough 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 Moves Breakthrough supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Moves Breakthrough vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Jason Hunter suggests that, Moves Breakthrough 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Moves Breakthrough 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, Moves Breakthrough 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Moves Breakthrough products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Moves Breakthrough needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Moves Breakthrough 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 - Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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, Moves Breakthrough 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. Moves Breakthrough 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Moves Breakthrough needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century | 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Moves Breakthrough to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Moves Breakthrough can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Moves Breakthrough is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Moves Breakthrough 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, Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Moves Breakthrough 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Moves Breakthrough 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Moves Breakthrough has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Moves Breakthrough to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century case study. Moves Breakthrough 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
– Moves Breakthrough 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Moves Breakthrough to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Moves Breakthrough 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Moves Breakthrough 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Moves Breakthrough 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.
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. Moves Breakthrough can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Moves Breakthrough to increase its market reach. Moves Breakthrough will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Threats Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Moves Breakthrough with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Moves Breakthrough
– 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 Moves Breakthrough.
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 Moves Breakthrough.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Moves Breakthrough 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Moves Breakthrough is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Moves Breakthrough 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Moves Breakthrough has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Moves Breakthrough 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.
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. Moves Breakthrough needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Moves Breakthrough can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Moves Breakthrough in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Moves Breakthrough 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. Moves Breakthrough can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Moves Breakthrough 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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 Lessons From Breakthrough Strategic Moves Over the Last Century 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 Moves Breakthrough needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
