Swot Analysis of "Driving Towards a Disruption? (B)" written by Chet Huber, Willy Shih includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Disruption 612101 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Disruptive innovation, Technology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Driving Towards a Disruption? (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Disruption 612101, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Disruption 612101 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Disruption 612101
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Disruption 612101
Strengths Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Disruption 612101 in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Disruption 612101 is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Disruption 612101 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 Disruption 612101 is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Disruption 612101 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Disruption 612101 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Disruption 612101 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Disruption 612101 has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Disruption 612101 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Disruption 612101 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Disruption 612101 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Disruption 612101 is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Disruption 612101 in the sector have low bargaining power. Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Disruption 612101 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Disruption 612101 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 Chet Huber, Willy Shih 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Disruption 612101 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Disruption 612101 has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Chet Huber, Willy Shih suggests that, Disruption 612101 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Disruption 612101 products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Disruption 612101 needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Disruption 612101 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Driving Towards a Disruption? (B), it seems that the employees of Disruption 612101 don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) HBR case study mentions - Disruption 612101 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Disruption 612101 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Disruption 612101 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Disruption 612101 is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Disruption 612101 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 - Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Driving Towards a Disruption? (B), in the dynamic environment Disruption 612101 has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Disruption 612101 has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) | 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Disruption 612101 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Disruption 612101 can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Disruption 612101 operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Disruption 612101 in the consumer business. Now Disruption 612101 can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Disruption 612101 can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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 Disruption 612101 in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Disruption 612101 is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Disruption 612101 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Disruption 612101 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Disruption 612101 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Disruption 612101 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 Disruption 612101 to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Disruption 612101 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.
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 Disruption 612101 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.
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. Disruption 612101 can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) are -
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 Disruption 612101 in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Disruption 612101 in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Environmental challenges
– Disruption 612101 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. Disruption 612101 can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Disruption 612101 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Disruption 612101 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Disruption 612101 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Disruption 612101 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Disruption 612101 needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
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 Disruption 612101 business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Disruption 612101 needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Disruption 612101 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B), Disruption 612101 may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Increasing wage structure of Disruption 612101
– 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 Disruption 612101.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Driving Towards a Disruption? (B) 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 Disruption 612101 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.