Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics
After two and a half years of effort, Fraser Bullock, COO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, faced projected deficits and post-9/11 security requirements only five months before the opening ceremony. Summarizes the organizational structure and processes put in place by Bullock and CEO Mitt Romney, as well as how they created systems and culture to endow effective working knowledge to the 90% of their staff who started working two weeks before the games began.
Authors :: H. Kent Bowen, Courtney Purrington, Bryce C. Lapierre
Swot Analysis of "Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics" written by H. Kent Bowen, Courtney Purrington, Bryce C. Lapierre includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bullock Olympics facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Organizational structure, Performance measurement, Risk management, Strategic planning and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bullock Olympics, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bullock Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bullock Olympics
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 Bullock Olympics
Strengths Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bullock Olympics in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bullock Olympics in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Bullock Olympics 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 Bullock Olympics in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bullock Olympics digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bullock Olympics 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
– Bullock Olympics has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bullock Olympics to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bullock Olympics 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bullock Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Bullock Olympics 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 H. Kent Bowen, Courtney Purrington, Bryce C. Lapierre 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bullock Olympics is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bullock Olympics has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bullock Olympics 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.
Training and development
– Bullock Olympics has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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.
Organizational Resilience of Bullock Olympics
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bullock Olympics does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bullock Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Bullock Olympics has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bullock Olympics 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Bullock Olympics 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Bullock Olympics has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bullock Olympics is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Bullock Olympics needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bullock Olympics to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bullock Olympics 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. Bullock Olympics 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Bullock Olympics has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bullock Olympics 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 - Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bullock Olympics products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bullock Olympics needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bullock Olympics 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bullock Olympics 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.
Opportunities Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics | 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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, Bullock Olympics can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bullock Olympics operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bullock Olympics 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.
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. Bullock Olympics can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Bullock Olympics can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bullock Olympics has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bullock Olympics to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics case study. Bullock Olympics can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Bullock Olympics 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bullock Olympics 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bullock Olympics 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bullock Olympics 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bullock Olympics can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Bullock Olympics can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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.
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. Bullock Olympics 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. Bullock Olympics 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bullock Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bullock Olympics to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics are -
Environmental challenges
– Bullock Olympics 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. Bullock Olympics can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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. Bullock Olympics can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bullock Olympics has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bullock Olympics 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bullock Olympics 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bullock Olympics is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics, Bullock Olympics 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bullock Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Bullock Olympics with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bullock Olympics 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.
Increasing wage structure of Bullock Olympics
– 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 Bullock Olympics.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bullock Olympics 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.
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 Bullock Olympics in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Salt Lake Organizing Committee: 2002 Olympics 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 Bullock Olympics needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
