The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities
Technological innovation is considered a competitive strength for America, but the nation does not score as high in deploying its technology. U.S. transportation systems are in need of repair and renewal, and the sector is at the cusp of a technological revolution. The Information Superhighway could reinvent the highway-and airways, railroads, vehicles, and more-by making aspects of the system "smarter" and more connected, cost-effective, fuel-efficient, safer, and more convenient for consumers, businesses, and communities. This paper discusses five trends in for technology-enabled transportation innovation: connected vehicles; connected roads; big data analytics in air transportation; Intelligent Transportation Systems; and innovation in information infrastructure.
Swot Analysis of "The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Kevin Rosier includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Transportation Superhighway facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Transportation Superhighway, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Transportation Superhighway 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Transportation Superhighway
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 Transportation Superhighway
Strengths The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Transportation Superhighway in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Transportation Superhighway 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Transportation Superhighway 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Transportation Superhighway to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Transportation Superhighway to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Transportation Superhighway 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 Transportation Superhighway in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Transportation Superhighway 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 Transportation Superhighway is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Transportation Superhighway is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Transportation Superhighway 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Transportation Superhighway has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Transportation Superhighway 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Transportation Superhighway 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Transportation Superhighway is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Transportation Superhighway in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Transportation Superhighway 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 The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities, is just above the industry average. Transportation Superhighway 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities, it seems that the employees of Transportation Superhighway 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Kevin Rosier suggests that, Transportation Superhighway 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Transportation Superhighway 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Transportation Superhighway is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Transportation Superhighway needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Transportation Superhighway to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Transportation Superhighway is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Transportation Superhighway has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Transportation Superhighway 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Transportation Superhighway is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities | 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Transportation Superhighway 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Transportation Superhighway to increase its market reach. Transportation Superhighway 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.
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 Transportation Superhighway in the consumer business. Now Transportation Superhighway can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Transportation Superhighway has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Transportation Superhighway to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities case study. Transportation Superhighway can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Transportation Superhighway 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Transportation Superhighway 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Transportation Superhighway can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Transportation Superhighway 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 Transportation Superhighway to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Transportation Superhighway can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Transportation Superhighway 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.
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. Transportation Superhighway 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. Transportation Superhighway 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 Transportation Superhighway 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Transportation Superhighway 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities, 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Transportation Superhighway 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Transportation Superhighway 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.
Environmental challenges
– Transportation Superhighway 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. Transportation Superhighway can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Transportation Superhighway 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.
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 Transportation Superhighway in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Transportation Superhighway business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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 Transportation Superhighway.
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. Transportation Superhighway 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Transportation Superhighway 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities .
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. Transportation Superhighway needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Transportation Superhighway
– 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 Transportation Superhighway.
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 The Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Information Superhighway Meets the Highway: Technology and Mobility Trends and Opportunities 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 Transportation Superhighway needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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