Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality
In a world of true meritocracy, every individual-regardless of gender-would be fairly rewarded for their contribution. The problem, according to the author, is that such meritocracy does not exist in most organizations. She argues that the procedures and 'frames of reference' in most firms devalue women's contributions and reinforce the privileges of dominant groups. If we want to make meritocracy a reality, she says, men and women alike must confront their biases towards women. She provides eight strategies for getting closer to a true meritocracy, including 'training anyone in an evaluative position to understand implicit bias' and 'examining systems and procedures for unintended bias'.
Swot Analysis of "Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality" written by Sarah Kaplan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Meritocracy Bias facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic thinking, Talent management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Meritocracy Bias, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Meritocracy Bias
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 Meritocracy Bias
Strengths Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Meritocracy Bias in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy Bias is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Meritocracy Bias is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Meritocracy Bias 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 Sarah Kaplan 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Meritocracy Bias is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Meritocracy Bias is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Meritocracy Bias has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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.
High brand equity
– Meritocracy Bias has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Meritocracy Bias to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Meritocracy Bias digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Meritocracy Bias 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Meritocracy Bias in the sector have low bargaining power. Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Meritocracy Bias to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Meritocracy Bias 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Meritocracy Bias in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Meritocracy Bias 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality, is just above the industry average. Meritocracy Bias 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Meritocracy Bias 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. Meritocracy Bias 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, Meritocracy Bias is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Meritocracy Bias is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Meritocracy Bias supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Meritocracy Bias vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Meritocracy Bias 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Meritocracy Bias 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sarah Kaplan suggests that, Meritocracy Bias 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Meritocracy Bias is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Meritocracy Bias needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Meritocracy Bias to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality | 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Meritocracy Bias to increase its market reach. Meritocracy Bias 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
– Meritocracy Bias 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Meritocracy Bias 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Meritocracy Bias 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Meritocracy Bias 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, Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Meritocracy Bias has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Meritocracy Bias to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality case study. Meritocracy Bias can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Meritocracy Bias 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Meritocracy Bias 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Meritocracy Bias can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Meritocracy Bias can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Meritocracy Bias to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy Bias to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Meritocracy Bias 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.
Threats Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality are -
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. Meritocracy Bias needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Meritocracy Bias is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Meritocracy Bias can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Meritocracy Bias has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Meritocracy Bias 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.
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 Meritocracy Bias.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Meritocracy Bias 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.
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. Meritocracy Bias 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Meritocracy Bias with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Meritocracy Bias 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality .
Increasing wage structure of Meritocracy Bias
– 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 Meritocracy Bias.
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.
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 Meritocracy Bias in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Meritocracy Bias 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality 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 Meritocracy Bias needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
