THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney
Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney for product #PON413.Two-party negotiation between the lawyers for business partners concerning the ownership of a new computer program one of them has developed. HackerStar, Inc. is a small closely-held corporation that develops and markets software for microcomputers. The six-year-old company was founded by Hacker, a brilliant programmer who is responsible for the company's products and became its manager, and Star, a dentist and computer hobbyist who provided the capital. Hacker and Star are each 50% owners. The company has done moderately well, but now faces a crisis resulting from a dispute between the partners over the ownership and disposition of PowerScreen, a new product developed by Hacker, at least partly on his own time and definitely against Star's wishes. The company lawyer has referred Hacker and Star to separate counsel in order to avoid a conflict of interest. The exercise revolves around the meeting of these lawyers. At issue is the ownership of PowerScreen and the future of HackerStar, Inc. This is a role play case.
Authors :: Bruce Patton, Mark Gordon, Andrew Clarkson
Swot Analysis of "THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney" written by Bruce Patton, Mark Gordon, Andrew Clarkson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hacker Powerscreen facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Joint ventures, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hacker Powerscreen, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hacker Powerscreen 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hacker Powerscreen
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 Hacker Powerscreen
Strengths THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hacker Powerscreen in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hacker Powerscreen digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hacker Powerscreen has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hacker Powerscreen to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hacker Powerscreen to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hacker Powerscreen 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Hacker Powerscreen has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hacker Powerscreen in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hacker Powerscreen is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Hacker Powerscreen 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 Bruce Patton, Mark Gordon, Andrew Clarkson can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hacker Powerscreen is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hacker Powerscreen 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Hacker Powerscreen is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Bruce Patton, Mark Gordon, Andrew Clarkson suggests that, Hacker Powerscreen 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hacker Powerscreen products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hacker Powerscreen needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, in the dynamic environment Hacker Powerscreen has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hacker Powerscreen has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, is just above the industry average. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hacker Powerscreen 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 - THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hacker Powerscreen is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Hacker Powerscreen needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hacker Powerscreen 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, it seems that the employees of Hacker Powerscreen 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 Hacker Powerscreen supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hacker Powerscreen vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hacker Powerscreen is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hacker Powerscreen, firm in the HBR case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney | 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney are -
Loyalty marketing
– Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hacker Powerscreen can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hacker Powerscreen 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, THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hacker Powerscreen can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hacker Powerscreen operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Hacker Powerscreen can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hacker Powerscreen can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hacker Powerscreen is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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.
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. Hacker Powerscreen 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. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hacker Powerscreen to increase its market reach. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hacker Powerscreen has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hacker Powerscreen to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney case study. Hacker Powerscreen can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Hacker Powerscreen in the consumer business. Now Hacker Powerscreen can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hacker Powerscreen 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.
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 Hacker Powerscreen.
Regulatory challenges
– Hacker Powerscreen 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hacker Powerscreen 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hacker Powerscreen 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney .
Environmental challenges
– Hacker Powerscreen 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. Hacker Powerscreen can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Hacker Powerscreen in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hacker Powerscreen has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hacker Powerscreen needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
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. Hacker Powerscreen 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.
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 Hacker Powerscreen business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hacker Powerscreen 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 Hacker Powerscreen needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
