Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business
Team and Concepts Ltd. (TnC), an IT company founded by David Lee and his partners in 2003, was not a typical small business. Its owners were innovative, business-savvy entrepreneurs with audacious goals who worked daily to grow the business and transform it into a successful company. Such a transformation required comprehensive changes in many aspects of the business. Facilitating this transition required enhanced managerial, financial, marketing, and R&D capacities. In 2004, the company was facing the challenge of working with new investors and partners who would likely set conditions for the business and require it to adopt new behaviors and a new management structure. TnC was also exploring the trade-offs between acquiring outside funds and retaining control to make wise decisions about its future strategy.
Swot Analysis of "Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business" written by Ali Farhoomand, Mary Ho includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Tnc Concepts facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Innovation and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tnc Concepts, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tnc Concepts 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tnc Concepts
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 Tnc Concepts
Strengths Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Tnc Concepts in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Tnc Concepts is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Tnc Concepts is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Tnc Concepts 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 Tnc Concepts in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Tnc Concepts 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Tnc Concepts 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Tnc Concepts in the sector have low bargaining power. Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Tnc Concepts to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Tnc Concepts is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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.
Analytics focus
– Tnc Concepts 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 Ali Farhoomand, Mary Ho 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.
Organizational Resilience of Tnc Concepts
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Tnc Concepts does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Tnc Concepts 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 Tnc Concepts is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Tnc Concepts 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Tnc Concepts in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business, is just above the industry average. Tnc Concepts needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Tnc Concepts has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business HBR case study mentions - Tnc Concepts 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Tnc Concepts 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Tnc Concepts 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Tnc Concepts 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Tnc Concepts, firm in the HBR case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Tnc Concepts 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Tnc Concepts 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Tnc Concepts 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.
Opportunities Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business | 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Tnc Concepts 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, Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Tnc Concepts can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Tnc Concepts can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Tnc Concepts 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Tnc Concepts 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Tnc Concepts has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Tnc Concepts to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business case study. Tnc Concepts can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Tnc Concepts 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.
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 Tnc Concepts in the consumer business. Now Tnc Concepts can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tnc Concepts 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 Tnc Concepts to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Tnc Concepts can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tnc Concepts is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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.
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. Tnc Concepts can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Tnc Concepts to increase its market reach. Tnc Concepts 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Tnc Concepts with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Tnc Concepts in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Tnc Concepts 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.
Environmental challenges
– Tnc Concepts 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. Tnc Concepts can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Tnc Concepts has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tnc Concepts 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Tnc Concepts is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tnc Concepts 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.
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 Tnc Concepts 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, Tnc Concepts 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Tnc Concepts 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
– Tnc Concepts 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business, Tnc Concepts 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Tnc Concepts
– 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 Tnc Concepts.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Tnc Concepts needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.