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Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation


When it comes to agility, startups have an edge over large corporations-whereas large corporations sit on resources which startups can only dream of. The combination of entrepreneurial activity with corporate ability seems like a perfect match, but often goes unused. This article examines how large corporations from the tech industry have begun to tap into entrepreneurial innovation from startups. Prominent examples are used to inductively derive a set of four models commonly used to engage with startups and to describe their characteristics, challenges, and rationales. While corporate equity is the key mechanism behind more established models, newer approaches replace equity with shared technology to connect both worlds with fewer organizational costs. This article presents a typology of corporate mechanisms to engage with startups that balance speed and agility against control and strategic direction, to map the ways companies can bridge the gap between themselves and the startup world.

Authors :: Tobias Weiblen, Henry W. Chesbrough

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Joint ventures, Managing organizations, Technology, Venture capital, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation" written by Tobias Weiblen, Henry W. Chesbrough includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Startups Corporations facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Managing organizations, Technology, Venture capital and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Startups Corporations, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Startups Corporations
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 Startups Corporations




Strengths Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Startups Corporations in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Startups Corporations in the sector have low bargaining power. Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Startups Corporations to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Learning organization

- Startups Corporations 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 Startups Corporations is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Startups Corporations 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Startups Corporations 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Startups Corporations to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Startups Corporations to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Startups Corporations is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Training and development

– Startups Corporations has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Startups Corporations is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.

Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field

– Startups Corporations 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 Startups Corporations in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.






Weaknesses Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation are -

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Startups Corporations is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Startups Corporations needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Startups Corporations to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Startups Corporations 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Startups Corporations 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 - Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Startups Corporations 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. Startups Corporations 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation, in the dynamic environment Startups Corporations has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Startups Corporations has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Startups Corporations, firm in the HBR case study Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Startups Corporations 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Startups Corporations has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Startups Corporations has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation HBR case study mentions - Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation | 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Startups Corporations can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Startups Corporations operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Startups Corporations 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Startups Corporations can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Startups Corporations to increase its market reach. Startups Corporations 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Startups Corporations 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

– Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Startups Corporations to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Startups Corporations can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Startups Corporations can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Developing new processes and practices

– Startups Corporations 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Startups Corporations 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.

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. Startups Corporations can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Startups Corporations 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 Technology & Operations segment.

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 Startups Corporations in the consumer business. Now Startups Corporations can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.




Threats Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation are -

Increasing wage structure of Startups Corporations

– 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 Startups Corporations.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Startups Corporations is facing in Technology & Operations 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. Startups Corporations needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Startups Corporations has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Startups Corporations needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Startups Corporations 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation, Startups Corporations 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 .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Startups Corporations 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Startups Corporations with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Startups Corporations 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.

Environmental challenges

– Startups Corporations 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. Startups Corporations can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Startups Corporations 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation 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 Startups Corporations needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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