Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Companies have increasingly recognized that legal capabilities are crucial for ongoing corporate success, and they understand the importance of working with legal counsel. All too often, though, senior executives still view the law as a constraint on managerial decisions, primarily perceiving it as an issue of cost and compliance.But this limited perspective of the law does not explain how some leading companies, such as Qualcomm and the Walt Disney Co., have managed to deploy their legal departments to shape the legal environment in order to secure long-term competitive advantage. In their research, the authors have developed a framework that can help executives identify the different ways in which legal strategies can be used to achieve various corporate goals, including the identification of value-creating opportunities. The framework consists of five different legal pathways, which the authors describe using examples such as Qualcomm, Microsoft, United Parcel Service and Xerox. In order of least to greatest strategic impact, the five legal pathways are (1) avoidance, (2) compliance, (3) prevention, (4) value and (5) transformation. In the avoidance pathway, managers see the law as an obstacle to their desired business goals. Companies operating in the avoidance pathway will often have lax internal controls or a failure to perform due diligence, and this approach can lead to disaster. Companies in the compliance pathway recognize that the law is an unwelcome but mandatory constraint, and they think of compliance basically as a cost that needs to be minimized. For businesses in the prevention pathway, managers take a more proactive approach, using the law to preempt future business-related risks. The value pathway represents a fundamental shift in mind-set, from risk management to value creation; managers use the law to craft strategies that increase ROI in ways that can be directly tied to a profit-and-loss statement. For companies in the transformation pathway,executives have integrated their legal strategy not only within the organization's various value-chain activities but also with the value chains of important external partners. Finding the right legal pathway for a particular company requires more than just a consideration of the overall business model. Other key factors include managers'attitudes toward the law and their level of legal knowledge, the sophistication of legal counsel and, in particular, the legal department's ability to work with managers to achieve strategic business goals. Using the authors'framework as a basic guide, executives can craft a legal strategy that best suits their particular business needs.
Swot Analysis of "Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy" written by Robert C. Bird, David Orozco M. includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Legal Pathway facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Legal Pathway, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Legal Pathway 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Legal Pathway
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 Legal Pathway
Strengths Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Legal Pathway in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Legal Pathway 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 Legal Pathway in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Legal Pathway 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy - 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 Legal Pathway digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Legal Pathway 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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.
Learning organization
- Legal Pathway 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 Legal Pathway is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Legal Pathway in the sector have low bargaining power. Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Legal Pathway to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Legal Pathway is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Legal Pathway
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Legal Pathway does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Legal Pathway 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
– Legal Pathway has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Legal Pathway to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Legal Pathway is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Legal Pathway is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Legal Pathway has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert C. Bird, David Orozco M. suggests that, Legal Pathway 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Legal Pathway 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Legal Pathway 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Legal Pathway, firm in the HBR case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Legal Pathway 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Legal Pathway 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. Legal Pathway 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy HBR case study mentions - Legal Pathway 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Legal Pathway is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Legal Pathway has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy | 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy are -
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. Legal Pathway can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Legal Pathway 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.
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. Legal Pathway can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Legal Pathway 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Legal Pathway 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.
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 Legal Pathway 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
– Legal Pathway 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Legal Pathway 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 Legal Pathway to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Legal Pathway can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Legal Pathway in the consumer business. Now Legal Pathway can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Legal Pathway has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Legal Pathway to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy case study. Legal Pathway can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Legal Pathway can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Legal Pathway operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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. Legal Pathway 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. Legal Pathway 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.
Threats Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy are -
Increasing wage structure of Legal Pathway
– 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 Legal Pathway.
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 Legal Pathway business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Legal Pathway 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.
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 Legal Pathway in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Legal Pathway 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Legal Pathway is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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
– Legal Pathway 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.
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. Legal Pathway 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Legal Pathway 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Legal Pathway 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.
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. Legal Pathway can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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 Legal Pathway needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.