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Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion


Describes alternative methods of propulsion (including steering) for small crafts (canoes, row boats, etc.) and the pros and cons of each.

Authors :: Steven C. Wheelwright, Kerry Herman

Topics :: Technology & Operations

Tags :: Decision making, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion" written by Steven C. Wheelwright, Kerry Herman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Propulsion Canoes facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making and Technology & Operations.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion


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




Strengths Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Propulsion Canoes in Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion Harvard Business Review case study are -

Organizational Resilience of Propulsion Canoes

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Propulsion Canoes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Innovation driven organization

– Propulsion Canoes is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Strong track record of project management

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Propulsion Canoes 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Propulsion Canoes has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Propulsion Canoes 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.

Learning organization

- Propulsion Canoes 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 Propulsion Canoes is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry

– Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Propulsion Canoes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Propulsion Canoes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Propulsion Canoes 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Propulsion Canoes 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.

High brand equity

– Propulsion Canoes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Propulsion Canoes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– Propulsion Canoes has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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.






Weaknesses Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Propulsion Canoes is planning to shift buying processes online.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Propulsion Canoes 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Propulsion Canoes products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Propulsion Canoes needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Propulsion Canoes is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Propulsion Canoes 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Steven C. Wheelwright, Kerry Herman suggests that, Propulsion Canoes 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion, is just above the industry average. Propulsion Canoes 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Propulsion Canoes 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion, 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Propulsion Canoes 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.




Opportunities Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion | 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Propulsion Canoes is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Propulsion Canoes 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 Propulsion Canoes to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Manufacturing automation

– Propulsion Canoes 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, Propulsion Canoes 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Propulsion Canoes 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Propulsion Canoes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Propulsion Canoes to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion case study. Propulsion Canoes can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Propulsion Canoes can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Propulsion Canoes 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Propulsion Canoes to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Buying journey improvements

– Propulsion Canoes can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Propulsion Canoes 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, Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Better consumer reach

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

Leveraging digital technologies

– Propulsion Canoes 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.

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. Propulsion Canoes 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. Propulsion Canoes 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.




Threats Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion are -

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. Propulsion Canoes needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Environmental challenges

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

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Propulsion Canoes 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Propulsion Canoes 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion, Propulsion Canoes 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 .

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Propulsion Canoes is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Propulsion Canoes.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Propulsion Canoes 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion .

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. Propulsion Canoes 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.

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 Propulsion Canoes in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Propulsion Canoes 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Boat Building Exercise: Four Modes of Propulsion 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 Propulsion Canoes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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