What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings
After decades of continuity, Luse Holdings faced a new challenge in 2015. The company needed to pivot in a changing industry context-specifically, Luse had lost a bid to a non-union competitor for the first time-and CEO and fourth-generation member Steve Luse was considering three primary options: (1) continue as is, while also adding non-union services; (2) sell part of the business to reduce family risk; or (3) sell the entire business to fund other family interests. A fourth possible option was a maximization-of-growth alternative. This decision involved more than business considerations alone. The family's legacy as an industry champion and community philanthropist also required considering all relevant stakeholders, including immediate and extended family, employees, and community. Complicating the situation was the lack of an immediately identifiable successor in the next generation of the Luse family, though several fifth-generation members had completed internships with the business-including Steve's daughter Ashley, a recent MBA graduate. Students will step into Steve's shoes as he considers what recommendations to make to the advisory board six months from now. Students can also take the perspective of Ashley, a rising next-generation member: should she join the family business?
Swot Analysis of "What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings" written by John L. Ward, Ashley E. Luse includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Luse Family facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Succession planning and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Luse Family, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Luse Family 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Luse Family
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 Luse Family
Strengths What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Luse Family in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Luse Family has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Luse Family to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Luse Family to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Luse Family to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Luse Family is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Luse Family 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 John L. Ward, Ashley E. Luse 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.
Organizational Resilience of Luse Family
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Luse Family does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Luse Family has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Luse Family 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Luse Family 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 Luse Family 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 Luse Family in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Luse Family 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Luse Family digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Luse Family 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.
Training and development
– Luse Family has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Luse Family is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings, is just above the industry average. Luse Family 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Luse Family, firm in the HBR case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Luse Family is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Luse Family needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Luse Family to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 Luse Family has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings, it seems that the employees of Luse Family 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Luse Family is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Luse Family products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Luse Family needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings HBR case study mentions - Luse Family 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 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 Luse Family supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Luse Family vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Luse Family has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Luse Family 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.
Opportunities What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings | 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Luse Family 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.
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. Luse Family can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Luse Family can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Luse Family operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Luse Family in the consumer business. Now Luse Family can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Luse Family can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Luse Family can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Luse Family 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Luse Family 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 Luse Family to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Luse Family has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Luse Family to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings case study. Luse Family can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Luse Family 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Luse Family can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Luse Family to increase its market reach. Luse Family 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Luse Family 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Luse Family to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings are -
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 Luse Family.
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. Luse Family 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Luse Family 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Luse Family is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Luse Family 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Luse Family 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings, Luse Family 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 .
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. Luse Family needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Luse Family has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Luse Family needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Luse Family
– 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 Luse Family.
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.
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 Luse Family in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Luse Family 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. Luse Family can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings 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 Luse Family needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of What's in a Family Legacy? Balancing Family Emotions and Business Growth at Luse Holdings
