Building a More Intelligent Enterprise SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Building a More Intelligent Enterprise
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. To succeed in the long run, businesses need to create and leverage some kind of sustainable competitive edge. Although the authors say that advantages can still come from sources such as lower cost, intellectual property, motivated employees, and strategic leaders, they argue that in the knowledge economy, strategic advantages will increasingly depend on a capacity to make superior judgments and choices. Intelligent enterprises today are being shaped by two distinct forces. The first is the growing power of computers and big data, which provide the foundation for operations research, forecasting models, and artificial intelligence. The second is our growing understanding of human judgment, reasoning, and choice. Decades of research has yielded deep insights into what humans do well or poorly. In this article, the authors examine how managers can combine human intelligence with technology-enabled insights to make smarter choices in the face of uncertainty and complexity and thus gain a cumulative advantage in business. They note five strategic capabilities that intelligent enterprises can use to develop an advantage over competitors: 1. Find the strategic edge. In assessing past organizational forecasts, home in on areas where improving subjective predictions can really move the needle. 2. Run prediction tournaments. Discover the best forecasting methods by encouraging competition, experimentation, and innovation among teams. 3. Model the experts in your midst. Identify the people internally who have demonstrated superior insights into key business areas, and leverage their wisdom using simple linear models. 4. Experiment with artificial intelligence. Use deep neural nets in limited task domains to outperform human experts. 5. Change the way the organization operates. Promote an exploratory culture that continually looks for better ways to combine the capabilities of humans and machines.
Authors :: Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Philip E. Tetlock
Swot Analysis of "Building a More Intelligent Enterprise" written by Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Philip E. Tetlock includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intelligent Intelligence facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Building a More Intelligent Enterprise casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Building a More Intelligent Enterprise
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intelligent Intelligence, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intelligent Intelligence 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intelligent Intelligence
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 Intelligent Intelligence
Strengths Building a More Intelligent Enterprise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intelligent Intelligence in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Intelligent Intelligence 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Intelligent Intelligence in the sector have low bargaining power. Building a More Intelligent Enterprise has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intelligent Intelligence to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Intelligent Intelligence 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.
High brand equity
– Intelligent Intelligence has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Intelligent Intelligence to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Building a More Intelligent Enterprise Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Intelligent Intelligence 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intelligent Intelligence is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Building a More Intelligent Enterprise are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Intelligent Intelligence is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Intelligent Intelligence 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 Intelligent Intelligence in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Building a More Intelligent Enterprise firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intelligent Intelligence to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intelligent Intelligence to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Intelligent Intelligence is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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.
Weaknesses Building a More Intelligent Enterprise | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Building a More Intelligent Enterprise are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Intelligent Intelligence 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Philip E. Tetlock suggests that, Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Intelligent Intelligence 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, Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intelligent Intelligence is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Intelligent Intelligence needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intelligent Intelligence to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intelligent Intelligence is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Intelligent Intelligence products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intelligent Intelligence needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Intelligent Intelligence is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Building a More Intelligent Enterprise, it seems that the employees of Intelligent Intelligence 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 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 Intelligent Intelligence supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Building a More Intelligent Enterprise, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intelligent Intelligence vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Building a More Intelligent Enterprise | 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intelligent Intelligence 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 Intelligent Intelligence to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Intelligent Intelligence is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Intelligent Intelligence 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
– Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intelligent Intelligence to increase its market reach. Intelligent Intelligence 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.
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. Intelligent Intelligence 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. Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Intelligent Intelligence 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. Intelligent Intelligence can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Intelligent Intelligence in the consumer business. Now Intelligent Intelligence can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Building a More Intelligent Enterprise External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Intelligent Intelligence.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Intelligent Intelligence 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.
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.
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. Intelligent Intelligence can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intelligent Intelligence 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Intelligent Intelligence with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Intelligent Intelligence is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Building a More Intelligent Enterprise, Intelligent Intelligence 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Environmental challenges
– Intelligent Intelligence 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. Intelligent Intelligence can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Intelligent Intelligence business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Intelligent Intelligence
– 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 Intelligent Intelligence.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intelligent Intelligence has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intelligent Intelligence 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Building a More Intelligent Enterprise 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 Intelligent Intelligence needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
