Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking
Every solution you come up with-no matter how perfect it first appears-carries with it assumptions, leaps of faith and implicit conditions for success. If these are not recognized and attended to, they can turn out to be the Achilles heel in your great idea. So says the former creative advisor to Toyota, in a wide-ranging interview about his latest book, Winning the Brain Game. He presents and describes what he calls 'the seven fatal flaws of thinking': leaping, fixation, over-thinking, satisficing, downgrading, not-invented-here and self-censoring. Using a wide range of real-life examples-from Procter & Gamble to Xerox to Apple-he also shows how to avoid these common thinking flaws.
Swot Analysis of "Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking" written by Matthew E May, Karen Christensen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Flaws Thinking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic thinking and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Flaws Thinking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Flaws Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Flaws Thinking
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 Flaws Thinking
Strengths Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Flaws Thinking in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Flaws Thinking in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Flaws Thinking digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Flaws Thinking has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Flaws Thinking has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Flaws Thinking to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Flaws Thinking in the sector have low bargaining power. Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Flaws Thinking to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Flaws Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Flaws Thinking is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Flaws Thinking to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Flaws Thinking to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Flaws Thinking 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Flaws Thinking 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Flaws Thinking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Flaws Thinking is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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.
Weaknesses Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking, 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Matthew E May, Karen Christensen suggests that, Flaws Thinking 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Flaws Thinking is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Flaws Thinking 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Flaws Thinking is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Flaws Thinking needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Flaws Thinking to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking, in the dynamic environment Flaws Thinking has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Flaws Thinking has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Flaws Thinking, firm in the HBR case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Flaws Thinking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking, it seems that the employees of Flaws Thinking don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Flaws Thinking 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Flaws Thinking 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.
Opportunities Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking | 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Flaws Thinking has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Flaws Thinking to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking case study. Flaws Thinking can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Flaws Thinking can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Flaws Thinking operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Flaws Thinking 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.
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 Flaws Thinking in the consumer business. Now Flaws Thinking can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Flaws Thinking 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Flaws Thinking 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
– Flaws Thinking 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Flaws Thinking 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Flaws Thinking 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 Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Flaws Thinking 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 Flaws Thinking 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 Flaws Thinking to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Flaws Thinking 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Flaws Thinking can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Flaws Thinking can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Flaws Thinking 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.
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. Flaws Thinking 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.
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. Flaws Thinking can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Flaws Thinking needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Flaws Thinking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Flaws Thinking 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.
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 Flaws Thinking.
Increasing wage structure of Flaws Thinking
– 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 Flaws Thinking.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Flaws Thinking 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking, Flaws Thinking 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Flaws Thinking 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.
Environmental challenges
– Flaws Thinking 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. Flaws Thinking can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Winning the Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Brain Game: Fixing the Seven Fatal Flaws of Thinking 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 Flaws Thinking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.