Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy
Provides a framework for influencing key outside players--businesses, governments, and NGOs--in support of business strategy. This could mean negotiating contracts with major customers and suppliers, concluding acquisitions and alliances, and securing financing from investors and banks. It could also mean building coalitions to influence government rule-makers, working with institutional shareholders, and influencing key opinion-makers in the media and analyst communities. Illustrates how effective corporate diplomats skillfully employ the tools of diplomacy--negotiation, coalition building, and public relations--to shape the business environment favorably.
Swot Analysis of "Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy" written by Michael D. Watkins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Diplomacy Influencing facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Negotiations, Public relations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Diplomacy Influencing, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Diplomacy Influencing 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Diplomacy Influencing
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 Diplomacy Influencing
Strengths Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Diplomacy Influencing in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Diplomacy Influencing 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 Diplomacy Influencing is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Diplomacy Influencing to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Diplomacy Influencing to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Diplomacy Influencing is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Analytics focus
– Diplomacy Influencing 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 Michael D. Watkins 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Diplomacy Influencing in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Diplomacy Influencing has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Training and development
– Diplomacy Influencing has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Diplomacy Influencing 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Diplomacy Influencing 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Diplomacy Influencing 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Diplomacy Influencing 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 - Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Diplomacy Influencing is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Diplomacy Influencing 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy HBR case study mentions - Diplomacy Influencing 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Diplomacy Influencing supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Diplomacy Influencing vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Diplomacy Influencing 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael D. Watkins suggests that, Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Diplomacy Influencing, firm in the HBR case study Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy, in the dynamic environment Diplomacy Influencing has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Diplomacy Influencing has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Diplomacy Influencing is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Diplomacy Influencing needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Diplomacy Influencing to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Diplomacy Influencing to increase its market reach. Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Diplomacy Influencing 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 Diplomacy Influencing to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Diplomacy Influencing in the consumer business. Now Diplomacy Influencing can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Diplomacy Influencing can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Diplomacy Influencing is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Diplomacy Influencing 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, Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Diplomacy Influencing 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.
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. Diplomacy Influencing can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy are -
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. Diplomacy Influencing 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
– Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Diplomacy Influencing has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Diplomacy Influencing 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.
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 Diplomacy Influencing in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Diplomacy Influencing 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Diplomacy Influencing 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. Diplomacy Influencing can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Diplomacy Influencing business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Diplomacy Influencing 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Diplomacy Influencing 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business 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 Diplomacy Influencing needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.