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THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

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

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: IT, Joint ventures, Negotiations, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc



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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 -

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.

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.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Hacker Powerscreen 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 Hacker Powerscreen in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Hacker Powerscreen in the sector have low bargaining power. THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hacker Powerscreen to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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.

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.

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.

Learning organization

- Hacker Powerscreen 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 Hacker Powerscreen is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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.

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.

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.






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 dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 Hacker Powerscreen has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hacker Powerscreen 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. Hacker Powerscreen 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Hacker Powerscreen 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney HBR case study mentions - Hacker Powerscreen 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.

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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hacker Powerscreen is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney 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 THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, 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.




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 -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hacker Powerscreen 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.

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.

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.

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 Hacker Powerscreen 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.

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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Hacker Powerscreen has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hacker Powerscreen to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Hacker Powerscreen 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hacker Powerscreen can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hacker Powerscreen 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 Hacker Powerscreen to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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.




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 -

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.

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.

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.

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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hacker Powerscreen with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing wage structure of Hacker Powerscreen

– 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 Hacker Powerscreen.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Hacker Powerscreen is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Hacker Powerscreen 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.

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.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study THE POWERSCREEN PROBLEM - Confidential Instructions for Alan Hacker's Attorney, Hacker Powerscreen 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 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 .

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.




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.



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