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 - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, 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 -
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Tnc Concepts digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Tnc Concepts 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Tnc Concepts has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Tnc Concepts has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
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.
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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Tnc Concepts is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Tnc Concepts to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Tnc Concepts to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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 -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business 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 Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tnc Concepts is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Tnc Concepts is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Tnc Concepts needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tnc Concepts to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tnc Concepts 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. Tnc Concepts 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tnc Concepts 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.
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.
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.
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 Tnc Concepts supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Tnc Concepts vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Tnc Concepts is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Team and Concepts Ltd.: Managing the Growth of a Small Business can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Tnc Concepts 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Tnc Concepts 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.
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.
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.
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 Tnc Concepts 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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Tnc Concepts can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Tnc Concepts operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tnc Concepts can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Tnc Concepts can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Tnc Concepts 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 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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 Tnc Concepts.
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. Tnc Concepts can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Tnc Concepts needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Tnc Concepts 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
