Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard
Ember is a venture capital-funded start-up that hopes to establish a standard for ubiquitous wireless networks. Its unique approach and proprietary technology promises to create enormous value in a wide variety of markets, particularly in local sensing and control. However, competition has emerged much faster than expected. What should Ember do next?
Swot Analysis of "Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard" written by Rebecca Henderson, Nancy Confrey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ember Ubiquitous facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Entrepreneurship, IT and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ember Ubiquitous, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ember Ubiquitous
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 Ember Ubiquitous
Strengths Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ember Ubiquitous in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Ubiquitous in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Learning organization
- Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Ubiquitous is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ember Ubiquitous digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ember Ubiquitous
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ember Ubiquitous does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ember Ubiquitous to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ember Ubiquitous to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ember Ubiquitous in the sector have low bargaining power. Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ember Ubiquitous to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Ember Ubiquitous is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Ember Ubiquitous has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ember Ubiquitous to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard are -
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 Ember Ubiquitous supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ember Ubiquitous vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ember Ubiquitous needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard, is just above the industry average. Ember Ubiquitous 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Ember Ubiquitous has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ember Ubiquitous, firm in the HBR case study Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ember Ubiquitous 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 - Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard HBR case study mentions - Ember Ubiquitous 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Ubiquitous has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard, 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Opportunities Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard | 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard are -
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 Ember Ubiquitous in the consumer business. Now Ember Ubiquitous can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ember Ubiquitous 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.
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. Ember Ubiquitous can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Ubiquitous to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Ember Ubiquitous 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. Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ember Ubiquitous can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ember Ubiquitous to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ember Ubiquitous is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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.
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 Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Threats Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard, Ember Ubiquitous 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 .
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ember Ubiquitous with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ember Ubiquitous 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.
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 Ember Ubiquitous in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ember Ubiquitous 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard .
Environmental challenges
– Ember Ubiquitous 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. Ember Ubiquitous can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Ember Ubiquitous needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ember Ubiquitous is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Ember Ubiquitous.
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. Ember Ubiquitous can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Ember Ubiquitous 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Corp.: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard 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 Ember Ubiquitous needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.