Case Study Description of How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock
Like most managers, you probably have some ideas about how to grow your organization. You may even suspect that one or two of them could turn into something big. Unfortunately, you don't have the data to prove that your ideas will be needle-movers, and the 'numbers guys' insist on proof before any financial support can come your way. If this sounds familiar, you are caught in what the author calls 'growth gridlock' - a frustrating place where the corporate entrepreneur's optimism and need for speed collide with the organization's skepticism and need for control. However, she has found that there are people within organizations - whom she calls 'catalysts' - who manage to achieve sustainable growth despite the odds. The author describes their attributes and explains how their leadership initiates a near-chemical reaction that generates significant top-line results.
Swot Analysis of "How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock" written by Jeanne M. Liedtka includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gridlock Catalysts facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Psychology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gridlock Catalysts, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gridlock Catalysts 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gridlock Catalysts
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 Gridlock Catalysts
Strengths How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gridlock Catalysts in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Gridlock Catalysts is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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.
Learning organization
- Gridlock Catalysts 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 Gridlock Catalysts is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gridlock Catalysts 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Gridlock Catalysts 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 Jeanne M. Liedtka 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gridlock Catalysts 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gridlock Catalysts in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Gridlock Catalysts 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 Gridlock Catalysts in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gridlock Catalysts has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gridlock Catalysts in the sector have low bargaining power. How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gridlock Catalysts to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gridlock Catalysts to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gridlock Catalysts to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Gridlock Catalysts is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 Gridlock Catalysts 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock, is just above the industry average. Gridlock Catalysts needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gridlock Catalysts 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gridlock Catalysts 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. Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Gridlock Catalysts, firm in the HBR case study How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gridlock Catalysts is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Gridlock Catalysts has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Gridlock Catalysts products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gridlock Catalysts needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Opportunities How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock | 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gridlock Catalysts has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Gridlock Catalysts to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock case study. Gridlock Catalysts can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gridlock Catalysts is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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.
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. Gridlock Catalysts can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gridlock Catalysts to increase its market reach. Gridlock Catalysts 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.
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. Gridlock Catalysts 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 Gridlock Catalysts 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 Gridlock Catalysts to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
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 Gridlock Catalysts in the consumer business. Now Gridlock Catalysts can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Threats How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gridlock Catalysts 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.
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. Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Gridlock Catalysts
– 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 Gridlock Catalysts.
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. Gridlock Catalysts can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gridlock Catalysts 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gridlock Catalysts with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Gridlock Catalysts business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Gridlock Catalysts in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gridlock Catalysts 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 How Corporate Catalysts Conquer Growth Gridlock 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 Gridlock Catalysts needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
