Swot Analysis of "Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version" written by Michael A. Wheeler includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Easterly Harbor facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Easterly Harbor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Easterly Harbor 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Easterly Harbor
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 Easterly Harbor
Strengths Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Easterly Harbor in Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Easterly Harbor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Easterly Harbor 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Easterly Harbor is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Easterly Harbor 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Easterly Harbor 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Easterly Harbor in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Easterly Harbor 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 Michael A. Wheeler 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.
Learning organization
- Easterly Harbor 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 Easterly Harbor is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Easterly Harbor has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Easterly Harbor 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Easterly Harbor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Easterly Harbor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Easterly Harbor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Easterly Harbor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Easterly Harbor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Easterly Harbor 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version, it seems that the employees of Easterly Harbor 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Easterly Harbor is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Easterly Harbor 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version HBR case study mentions - Easterly Harbor 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version, is just above the industry average. Easterly Harbor 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Easterly Harbor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Easterly Harbor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Easterly Harbor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Easterly Harbor to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version, in the dynamic environment Easterly Harbor has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Easterly Harbor has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Easterly Harbor 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. Easterly Harbor 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Easterly Harbor products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Easterly Harbor needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version | 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Easterly Harbor to increase its market reach. Easterly Harbor 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.
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. Easterly Harbor can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Easterly Harbor 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 Easterly Harbor to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Easterly Harbor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Easterly Harbor can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Easterly Harbor has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Easterly Harbor to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version case study. Easterly Harbor can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Easterly Harbor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Easterly Harbor 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Easterly Harbor 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.
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. Easterly Harbor 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. Easterly Harbor 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Easterly Harbor can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Easterly Harbor operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Easterly Harbor 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.
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 Easterly Harbor in the consumer business. Now Easterly Harbor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version are -
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. Easterly Harbor 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. Easterly Harbor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Easterly Harbor 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. Easterly Harbor can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Easterly Harbor 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, Easterly Harbor 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version .
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 Easterly Harbor.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Easterly Harbor is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Easterly Harbor 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.
Increasing wage structure of Easterly Harbor
– 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 Easterly Harbor.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Easterly Harbor 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version, Easterly Harbor 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 .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Easterly Harbor will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Salt Harbor: Confidential Information for Easterly, Portuguese Version 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 Easterly Harbor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
