Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc.
Describes an innovating start-up company with a disruptive technology to the large, expensive echocardiography machines that leading cardiologists use to create images of heart functions for diagnostic purposes. Ecton's machine is small, cheap, portable, and can't create images as clear as those that large, expensive instruments can make. The entrepreneur is searching for a market for his product, and wonders whether he should sell out or try to build a successful commercial organization.
Swot Analysis of "Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc." written by Clayton M. Christensen, Edward G. Cape includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Images Disruptive facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Images Disruptive, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Images Disruptive 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Images Disruptive
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Images Disruptive
Strengths Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Images Disruptive in Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Images Disruptive in the sector have low bargaining power. Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Images Disruptive to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Images Disruptive is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Images Disruptive 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Images Disruptive to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Images Disruptive to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Images Disruptive 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 Clayton M. Christensen, Edward G. Cape 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Images Disruptive 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Images Disruptive digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Images Disruptive 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
– Images Disruptive has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Images Disruptive to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Images Disruptive 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Images Disruptive has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Images Disruptive 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Images Disruptive is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Images Disruptive 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Clayton M. Christensen, Edward G. Cape suggests that, Images Disruptive 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc., it seems that the employees of Images Disruptive 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, Images Disruptive is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Images Disruptive products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Images Disruptive needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Images Disruptive 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Images Disruptive is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Images Disruptive, firm in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc., is just above the industry average. Images Disruptive 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Images Disruptive has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Images Disruptive 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 - Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. | 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. are -
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. Images Disruptive can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Images Disruptive 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, Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc., to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Images Disruptive can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Images Disruptive can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Images Disruptive operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Images Disruptive 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 Images Disruptive to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Images Disruptive is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Images Disruptive in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Images Disruptive 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Images Disruptive 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 Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Images Disruptive can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Images Disruptive can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Images Disruptive can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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
– Images Disruptive 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.
Threats Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Images Disruptive 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc., Images Disruptive may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Environmental challenges
– Images Disruptive 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. Images Disruptive can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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. Images Disruptive needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Images Disruptive in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Images Disruptive 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. .
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. Images Disruptive 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Images Disruptive in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Images Disruptive 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 Images Disruptive business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Images Disruptive 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Images Disruptive can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Images Disruptive 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. 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 Images Disruptive needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.