Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success

Despite the availability of many methodologies, management approaches, and literature on strategy execution, research suggests that seven out of ten organizations fail to successfully execute their strategies. However, three out of ten organizations do appear to succeed. To find out what these organizations do differently, ten key management elements for successful strategy execution were identified from the literature as well as seven business benefits that could be realized if these elements were performed effectively. Next, 93 organizations were surveyed, followed by focus group meetings with senior managers. While mastery of formal methodologies and development of business cases are important, successful strategy execution is critically dependent on having a portfolio of change programs that are explicitly aligned with the organization's strategy. Further, this portfolio needs to be supported by the strategic leadership team and managed within a culture conducive to change. There are specific actions that organizations need to take to identify which elements of their strategy execution capability need to improve in order to take their performance to the next level.

Authors :: Arnoud Franken, Chris Edwards, Rob Lambert

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Competitive strategy, Leadership, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success" written by Arnoud Franken, Chris Edwards, Rob Lambert includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Execution Elements facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Leadership and Strategy & Execution.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Execution Elements, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Execution Elements 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Execution Elements
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 Execution Elements

---

Strengths Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Execution Elements in Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Execution Elements in the sector have low bargaining power. Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Execution Elements to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Training and development

– Execution Elements has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Execution Elements is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Execution Elements to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Execution Elements to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Execution Elements digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Execution Elements 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.

High brand equity

– Execution Elements has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Execution Elements to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Execution Elements 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Execution Elements 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Execution Elements 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 Execution Elements in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Execution Elements 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 Arnoud Franken, Chris Edwards, Rob Lambert can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Organizational Resilience of Execution Elements

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Execution Elements does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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.

---

---

Weaknesses Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success are -

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success HBR case study mentions - Execution Elements 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Execution Elements 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Execution Elements 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. Execution Elements 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 harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Execution Elements is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Execution Elements 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success, it seems that the employees of Execution Elements 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Execution Elements 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Execution Elements, firm in the HBR case study Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Execution Elements is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Execution Elements needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Execution Elements to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Execution Elements has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Lack of clear differentiation of Execution Elements products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Execution Elements needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

---

Opportunities Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success | 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Execution Elements 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Execution Elements 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Execution Elements 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Execution Elements 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 Execution Elements to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Execution Elements 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Execution Elements to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Execution Elements can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Manufacturing automation

– Execution Elements 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Execution Elements 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, Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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. Execution Elements can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Execution Elements 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 Execution Elements to increase its market reach. Execution Elements 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Execution Elements 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.

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. Execution Elements can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

---

Threats Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success, Execution Elements 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 .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Execution Elements 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.

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 Execution Elements.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Execution Elements 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Execution Elements has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Execution Elements 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.

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. Execution Elements can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Execution Elements business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Execution Elements

– 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 Execution Elements.

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 Execution Elements in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Execution Elements 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.

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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Execution Elements with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Regulatory challenges

– Execution Elements 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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that Lead to Success 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 Execution Elements needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---