How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation
Global managers can gain competitive advantage by bridging information gaps -- or structural holes -- between different islands of knowledge within their organizations, whether these are functional areas, business units or geographic markets. By manning these bridges, they are in a unique position to collect and transfer information, and most important, reframe it to make sure that it is understandable across diverse islands. To learn how to gain competitive advantage, however, a clear understanding of the origins of reputation is key. In electronic networks like Amazon and eBay, reputation emerges in a closed system that vendors can directly monitor and manage, since the same information is distributed to everyone. Controlling one's reputation gets a bit trickier in human networks. In this case, closed networks become echo chambers, fed by select bits of information (aka gossip) that is unevenly processed and selectively distributed, depending on the parties involved. The upside of this "information exchange" is its role in cultivating relationships in an organization. The potential downside: its wide-ranging implications for managing reputation.
Swot Analysis of "How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation" written by Ronald S. Burt, Suzanne Hogseth includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reputation Networks facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reputation Networks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reputation Networks operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reputation Networks
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 Reputation Networks
Strengths How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reputation Networks in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation 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
– Reputation Networks is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reputation Networks has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Reputation Networks 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 Reputation Networks in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Reputation Networks 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 Ronald S. Burt, Suzanne Hogseth 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Reputation Networks digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Reputation Networks 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Reputation Networks is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Reputation Networks has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Reputation Networks 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.
Learning organization
- Reputation Networks 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 Reputation Networks is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Reputation Networks is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Reputation Networks to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Reputation Networks to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Reputation Networks in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation are -
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 Reputation Networks supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Reputation Networks vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Reputation Networks has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Reputation Networks 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 Reputation Networks, firm in the HBR case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Reputation Networks 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. Reputation Networks 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Reputation Networks 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Reputation Networks is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation 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 How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Reputation Networks is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation 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 Reputation Networks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Reputation Networks products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Reputation Networks needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Reputation Networks 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reputation Networks 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Reputation Networks can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Reputation Networks operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Reputation Networks 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 Reputation Networks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reputation Networks has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reputation Networks to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation case study. Reputation Networks can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Reputation Networks can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Reputation Networks 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Reputation Networks 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Reputation Networks 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 Reputation Networks to increase its market reach. Reputation Networks 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.
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 Reputation Networks 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Reputation Networks 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, Reputation Networks 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, How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Reputation Networks with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Reputation Networks 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Reputation Networks 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.
Increasing wage structure of Reputation Networks
– 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 Reputation Networks.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Reputation Networks 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.
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 Reputation Networks.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation, Reputation Networks 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Reputation Networks 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Reputation Networks has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Reputation Networks 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.
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 Reputation Networks business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Reputation Networks 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of How Social Networks Create Competetive Advantage: Building Your Reputation 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 Reputation Networks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.