Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation
When do antitrust laws come into play in a bidding situation? What should a company do if an antitrust violation is uncovered? This memo discusses "hard-core" antitrust violations, focusing on bid rigging and market allocation, under the laws of the U.S. and other leading antitrust regimes.
Swot Analysis of "Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation" written by Lynn Sharp Paine, Lara Adamsons includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Antitrust Memo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Joint ventures, Negotiations, Regulation and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Antitrust Memo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Antitrust Memo 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Antitrust Memo
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 Antitrust Memo
Strengths Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Antitrust Memo in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Antitrust Memo are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Antitrust Memo 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Antitrust Memo 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.
Analytics focus
– Antitrust Memo 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 Lynn Sharp Paine, Lara Adamsons 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Antitrust Memo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Antitrust Memo 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
– Antitrust Memo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Antitrust Memo 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
– Antitrust Memo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Antitrust Memo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Antitrust Memo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Antitrust Memo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Antitrust Memo 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 Antitrust Memo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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.
Training and development
– Antitrust Memo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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.
Weaknesses Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation, in the dynamic environment Antitrust Memo has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Antitrust Memo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation HBR case study mentions - Antitrust Memo 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Antitrust Memo 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation, it seems that the employees of Antitrust Memo 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Antitrust Memo, firm in the HBR case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Antitrust Memo has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Antitrust Memo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Antitrust Memo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation, is just above the industry average. Antitrust Memo needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on 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 Antitrust Memo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Antitrust Memo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Antitrust Memo is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Antitrust Memo 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. Antitrust Memo 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.
Opportunities Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation | 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Antitrust Memo 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Antitrust Memo 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Antitrust Memo 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.
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 Antitrust Memo 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Antitrust Memo 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.
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. Antitrust Memo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Antitrust Memo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Antitrust Memo 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Antitrust Memo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Antitrust Memo 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. Antitrust Memo 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 Antitrust Memo to increase its market reach. Antitrust Memo 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Antitrust Memo 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 Antitrust Memo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Antitrust Memo 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Antitrust Memo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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.
Threats Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation are -
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 Antitrust Memo in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Antitrust Memo 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. Antitrust Memo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Antitrust Memo 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Antitrust Memo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Antitrust Memo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Antitrust Memo 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation, Antitrust Memo may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Antitrust Memo 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.
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. Antitrust Memo can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Antitrust Memo 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.
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 Antitrust Memo.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Memo From Counsel: Antitrust Law and Customer Allocation 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 Antitrust Memo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
