The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board
Anyone who keeps up with today's news knows that examples of governance failures abound and that Enron was just the tip of the iceberg. The fact is, the responsibilities of a modern Board Chair have evolved significantly in the past decade, and so too must the individuals who hold the post. The author, a long-time director and governance expert, advises Chairs to pay attention to the four 'Ts': mobilizing Talent, building Trust, managing Tensions and investing Time. He provides several tools for achieving each, and concludes that it is high time for our 'organizational conductors' to take control of unscripted virtuoso players and lead their orchestras to more harmonious outcomes.
Swot Analysis of "The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board" written by David Beatty includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chair Virtuoso facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economics, Ethics, Leadership, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chair Virtuoso, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chair Virtuoso 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chair Virtuoso
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 Chair Virtuoso
Strengths The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chair Virtuoso in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Chair Virtuoso in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chair Virtuoso 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Chair Virtuoso is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Chair Virtuoso in the sector have low bargaining power. The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Chair Virtuoso to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Chair Virtuoso 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.
Learning organization
- Chair Virtuoso 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 Chair Virtuoso is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chair Virtuoso to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chair Virtuoso to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Chair Virtuoso is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Chair Virtuoso is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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
– Chair Virtuoso has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Chair Virtuoso digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Chair Virtuoso 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chair Virtuoso has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chair Virtuoso 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.
Weaknesses The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board are -
Need for greater diversity
– Chair Virtuoso has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chair Virtuoso is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Chair Virtuoso 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 Chair Virtuoso has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 Chair Virtuoso 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board, in the dynamic environment Chair Virtuoso has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chair Virtuoso has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chair Virtuoso is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Chair Virtuoso needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chair Virtuoso to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Chair Virtuoso, firm in the HBR case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Chair Virtuoso 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Chair Virtuoso 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.
Opportunities The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board | 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chair Virtuoso 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Chair Virtuoso 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chair Virtuoso 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 Chair Virtuoso to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Chair Virtuoso can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Chair Virtuoso 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chair Virtuoso to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chair Virtuoso is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chair Virtuoso can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Chair Virtuoso 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Chair Virtuoso can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Chair Virtuoso can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Chair Virtuoso 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Threats The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board are -
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 Chair Virtuoso in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Chair Virtuoso 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chair Virtuoso 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.
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. Chair Virtuoso needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board, Chair Virtuoso may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Environmental challenges
– Chair Virtuoso 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. Chair Virtuoso can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Chair Virtuoso has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chair Virtuoso 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 Chair Virtuoso.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Chair Virtuoso 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.
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. Chair Virtuoso 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
– Chair Virtuoso 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 The Role of the Chair: Orchestrating the Board 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 Chair Virtuoso needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
