SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent
Accompanied by product #PON425.Two-party negotiation between agents for an opera singer and an opera house regarding a possible contract for an upcoming production. Sally Soprano is a distinguished soprano who is now somewhat past her prime. She has not had a lead role in two years, but would like to revive her career. The Lyric Opera has a production scheduled to open in three weeks, but its lead soprano has become unavailable. Lyric's representative has requested a meeting with Sally's agent to discuss the possibility of hiring Sally for the production. Neither knows much about the other's interests or alternatives. There is a wide range of possible outcomes. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent" written by Norbert Jacker, Mark Gordon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Soprano Sally facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Career planning, Conflict, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Soprano Sally, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Soprano Sally 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Soprano Sally
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 Soprano Sally
Strengths SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Soprano Sally in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Soprano Sally is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Soprano Sally has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Soprano Sally 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Soprano Sally digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Soprano Sally 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
– Soprano Sally has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Soprano Sally to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Soprano Sally in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Soprano Sally is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Soprano Sally 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 Soprano Sally is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Soprano Sally to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Soprano Sally to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Soprano Sally 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Soprano Sally has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Soprano Sally 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Soprano Sally 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 Soprano Sally in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Soprano Sally is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Soprano Sally 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.
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 Soprano Sally supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Soprano Sally vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 Soprano Sally has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent, it seems that the employees of Soprano Sally 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent HBR case study mentions - Soprano Sally 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Soprano Sally 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Soprano Sally, firm in the HBR case study SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Soprano Sally 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Soprano Sally 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Norbert Jacker, Mark Gordon suggests that, Soprano Sally 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.
Opportunities SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent | 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Soprano Sally has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Soprano Sally to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent case study. Soprano Sally can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Soprano Sally 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 Soprano Sally to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Soprano Sally is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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.
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 Soprano Sally 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.
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. Soprano Sally can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Soprano Sally can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Soprano Sally 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. Soprano Sally can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Soprano Sally 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. Soprano Sally 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Soprano Sally 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Soprano Sally 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Soprano Sally to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Soprano Sally 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 Soprano Sally 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 Soprano Sally in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Soprano Sally
– 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 Soprano Sally.
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 Soprano Sally business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Soprano Sally needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Soprano Sally.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Soprano Sally 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Soprano Sally with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Soprano Sally 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.
Environmental challenges
– Soprano Sally 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. Soprano Sally can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Soprano Sally has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Soprano Sally 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
– Soprano Sally 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 SALLY SOPRANO I - Confidential Instructions for Sally's Agent 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 Soprano Sally needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.