THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties
This case includes supplements.Two-party, multi-issue, scoreable negotiation regarding a prenuptial agreement, calling for a balance of substantive and relationship concerns. Marlene Mayberry and Jacques Parker are young adults planning their marriage. After dating for 3 years, they have prepared a list of 10 assets that they have decided to include in a prenuptial agreement. The items include a joint checking account, a car, an apartment, furniture, an art gallery, Jacques' artwork, a portrait of Marlene, California real estate, a $1 million inheritance, and a pet dog. Jacques and Marlene are given confidential instructions that outline specific point values and resistance points for these items. They will each be awarded "Tangible Points" for the assets they claim for themselves in the prenuptial agreement. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties" written by Nicholas Sabin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Prenuptial Marlene facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Financial analysis, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Prenuptial Marlene, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Prenuptial Marlene 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Prenuptial Marlene
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 Prenuptial Marlene
Strengths THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Prenuptial Marlene in THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 Prenuptial Marlene 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 Prenuptial Marlene in the sector have low bargaining power. THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Prenuptial Marlene to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Prenuptial Marlene
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Prenuptial Marlene does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Prenuptial Marlene to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Prenuptial Marlene to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Prenuptial Marlene is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 Nicholas Sabin 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Prenuptial Marlene digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Prenuptial Marlene 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
– Prenuptial Marlene has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Prenuptial Marlene to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Prenuptial Marlene 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 Prenuptial Marlene is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Weaknesses THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Nicholas Sabin suggests that, Prenuptial Marlene 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties, 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 Prenuptial Marlene has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties, in the dynamic environment Prenuptial Marlene has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Prenuptial Marlene has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Prenuptial Marlene products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Prenuptial Marlene needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Prenuptial Marlene is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Prenuptial Marlene needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Prenuptial Marlene to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties, it seems that the employees of Prenuptial Marlene 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Prenuptial Marlene 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. Prenuptial Marlene 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 Prenuptial Marlene 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties HBR case study mentions - Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Opportunities THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties | 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Prenuptial Marlene can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Prenuptial Marlene operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Prenuptial Marlene has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Prenuptial Marlene to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties case study. Prenuptial Marlene can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Prenuptial Marlene 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.
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. Prenuptial Marlene can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Prenuptial Marlene can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 Prenuptial Marlene 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 Prenuptial Marlene can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Prenuptial Marlene is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Prenuptial Marlene 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
– Prenuptial Marlene 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Prenuptial Marlene to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties are -
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 Prenuptial Marlene.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Prenuptial Marlene 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Prenuptial Marlene 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.
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 Prenuptial Marlene in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Prenuptial Marlene
– 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 Prenuptial Marlene.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Prenuptial Marlene 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.
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 Prenuptial Marlene business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Prenuptial Marlene 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Prenuptial Marlene is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Prenuptial Marlene needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Prenuptial Marlene has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Prenuptial Marlene 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.
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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties, Prenuptial Marlene 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of THE STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 STAKES OF ENGAGEMENT - General Instructions for Both Parties 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 Prenuptial Marlene needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
