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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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 -
Training and development
– Legal Pathway has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy 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
– 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Legal Pathway 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Legal Pathway to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Legal Pathway to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Legal Pathway is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Legal Pathway in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Legal Pathway 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.
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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy, in the dynamic environment Legal Pathway has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Legal Pathway has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Legal Pathway 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy, is just above the industry average. Legal Pathway needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on 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.
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.
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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Legal Pathway 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.
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.
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 -
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Legal Pathway 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 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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Legal Pathway can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Legal Pathway 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 Legal Pathway to increase its market reach. Legal Pathway 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
– Legal Pathway 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 Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Legal Pathway to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Legal Pathway can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats 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 -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Legal Pathway 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Legal Pathway needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Finding the Right Corporate Legal Strategy, Legal Pathway 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Legal Pathway 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. Legal Pathway can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
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 Legal Pathway.
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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Legal Pathway with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
