NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock
David Rock, founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, believes that the secrets to high performance lie in our ability to master humankind's greatest asset: the brain. In this interview, he argues that the brain requires three things to function optimally: moderate stress, positive affect (i.e. emotion) and a good night's sleep. He also shows that workplace engagement and productivity are closely related to the brain's primal 'threat and reward' function, which has repercussions for manaaqgers.
Swot Analysis of "NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock" written by David Rock, Karen Christensen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Neuroleadership Brain facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Neuroleadership Brain, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Neuroleadership Brain 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Neuroleadership Brain
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 Neuroleadership Brain
Strengths NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Neuroleadership Brain in NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Neuroleadership Brain has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Neuroleadership Brain 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.
High brand equity
– Neuroleadership Brain has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Neuroleadership Brain to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Organizational Resilience of Neuroleadership Brain
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Neuroleadership Brain does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Neuroleadership Brain has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Neuroleadership Brain 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Neuroleadership Brain 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 Neuroleadership Brain in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Neuroleadership Brain in the sector have low bargaining power. NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Neuroleadership Brain to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Neuroleadership Brain 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 David Rock, Karen Christensen 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Neuroleadership Brain to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Neuroleadership Brain to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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.
Weaknesses NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock, is just above the industry average. Neuroleadership Brain 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Neuroleadership Brain has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock HBR case study mentions - Neuroleadership Brain takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock, it seems that the employees of Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Neuroleadership Brain is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Neuroleadership Brain 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. Neuroleadership Brain 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 Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Neuroleadership Brain 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 Neuroleadership Brain has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Neuroleadership Brain has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock | 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock are -
Buying journey improvements
– Neuroleadership Brain can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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.
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 Neuroleadership Brain in the consumer business. Now Neuroleadership Brain can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Neuroleadership Brain can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Neuroleadership Brain is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Neuroleadership Brain to increase its market reach. Neuroleadership Brain 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.
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. Neuroleadership Brain 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. Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Neuroleadership Brain has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Neuroleadership Brain to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock case study. Neuroleadership Brain can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Neuroleadership Brain can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Neuroleadership Brain 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.
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 Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Threats NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock are -
Increasing wage structure of Neuroleadership Brain
– 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 Neuroleadership Brain.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Neuroleadership Brain with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Neuroleadership Brain is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Neuroleadership Brain high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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. Neuroleadership Brain can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Neuroleadership Brain 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock .
Environmental challenges
– Neuroleadership Brain 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. Neuroleadership Brain can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Neuroleadership Brain has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Neuroleadership Brain 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Neuroleadership Brain 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.
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 Neuroleadership Brain in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Neuroleadership Brain.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 NeuroLeadership 101: An Interview with David Rock 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 Neuroleadership Brain needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.