Final Voyage of the Challenger SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Final Voyage of the Challenger
Provides a summary of technical and organizational details that led to the decision to launch the Challenger Space Shuttle, and to the ensuing accident. Details of design and testing milestones of the Space Shuttle, with a focus on the Solid Rocket Booster, offer opportunities for project management and organizational analysis. NASA's risk management structure and its use for the Space Shuttle program exposes students to issues of risk associated with the use of technology. Principles of engineering versus managerial decision making, the role of professional knowledge, and issues related to data representation, and qualitative versus quantitative analysis are addressed. Some issues of professional ethics and individual responsibilities, as related to complex decision making in a technology intensive environment are presented in a context of a crisis situation. The analysis of the case should include assessment of project management, and ideas about organizational changes to avoid recurrence.
Swot Analysis of "Final Voyage of the Challenger" written by Oscar Hauptman, George Iwaki includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shuttle Challenger facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Final Voyage of the Challenger case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, Ethics, Product development, Project management, Risk management, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Final Voyage of the Challenger casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Final Voyage of the Challenger
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Final Voyage of the Challenger case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shuttle Challenger, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shuttle Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Final Voyage of the Challenger case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shuttle Challenger
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 Shuttle Challenger
Strengths Final Voyage of the Challenger | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shuttle Challenger in Final Voyage of the Challenger Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Shuttle Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Shuttle Challenger in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shuttle Challenger is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Final Voyage of the Challenger 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.
High brand equity
– Shuttle Challenger has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shuttle Challenger to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shuttle Challenger 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Shuttle Challenger is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Final Voyage of the Challenger are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Shuttle Challenger is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Final Voyage of the Challenger Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Shuttle Challenger 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Shuttle Challenger in the sector have low bargaining power. Final Voyage of the Challenger has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Shuttle Challenger to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Shuttle Challenger has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shuttle Challenger 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 lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Shuttle Challenger 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 Shuttle Challenger 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)
– Shuttle Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger - 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Final Voyage of the Challenger are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Shuttle Challenger has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Shuttle Challenger 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Final Voyage of the Challenger, in the dynamic environment Shuttle Challenger has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shuttle Challenger has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Shuttle Challenger supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Final Voyage of the Challenger, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shuttle Challenger vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shuttle Challenger 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Shuttle Challenger 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Shuttle Challenger products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Shuttle Challenger needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Final Voyage of the Challenger HBR case study mentions - Shuttle Challenger 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Shuttle Challenger 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Shuttle Challenger 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. Shuttle Challenger 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Shuttle Challenger 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 - Final Voyage of the Challenger should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Final Voyage of the Challenger | 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger 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. Shuttle Challenger can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shuttle Challenger can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shuttle Challenger operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Shuttle Challenger 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Shuttle Challenger 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shuttle Challenger 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.
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. Shuttle Challenger 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, Shuttle Challenger 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, Final Voyage of the Challenger, 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
– Shuttle Challenger can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Final Voyage of the Challenger 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shuttle Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shuttle Challenger to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Shuttle Challenger 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. Shuttle Challenger 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.
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 Shuttle Challenger in the consumer business. Now Shuttle Challenger can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shuttle Challenger has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Shuttle Challenger to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Final Voyage of the Challenger case study. Shuttle Challenger can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Shuttle Challenger 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.
Threats Final Voyage of the Challenger External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Final Voyage of the Challenger are -
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 Shuttle Challenger business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shuttle Challenger is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shuttle Challenger 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.
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 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.
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. Shuttle Challenger needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shuttle Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Shuttle Challenger 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 Shuttle Challenger 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.
Environmental challenges
– Shuttle Challenger 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. Shuttle Challenger can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Shuttle Challenger with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Shuttle Challenger can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Shuttle Challenger
– 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 Shuttle Challenger.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Final Voyage of the Challenger 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 Shuttle Challenger needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.