The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Futurists are skilled at listening to and interpreting signals. They look for early patterns on the fringe, before those "pretrends"begin moving toward the mainstream. Although futurists know most patterns will come to nothing, they watch and wait and test the patterns to find the few that will evolve into genuine trends. The art of forecasting the future, author Amy Webb notes, involves "simultaneously recognizing patterns in the present and thinking about how those changes will impact the future so that you can be actively engaged in building what happens next."Organizations that are able to track emerging trends have opportunities to converse and collaborate with those in other fields to plan ahead. Although it's rare for companies to have their own in-house futurists, Webb argues that forward-thinking organizations can develop their capabilities for foresight by combining creative perspectives with logic-oriented ones. BlackBerry Ltd.'s inability to reconcile different views, she writes, contributed to the decline of the company's smartphone business. BlackBerry's smartphone experience, she concludes, "suggests that forecasting the future of a product, company, or industry should neither be relegated to inventive visionaries nor mapped entirely by left-brain thinkers." In this article, Webb offers a six-step process for identifying trends. To begin with, she advises keeping an open mind and gathering information from the fringe without judgment. This involves creating a map of what you observe at the fringe. Next, she proposes narrowing the research and uncovering the hidden patterns to spot trends. The third step is asking questions to determine whether the patterns you observe are really trends. The fourth step involves interpreting the trend and ensuring that the timing is right for the organization. This includes looking at how external factors (such as a change in government leadership or a natural disaster) could affect the trend's development. Once organizations have identified trends, Webb recommends two final steps: developing scenarios involving "probable, plausible, and possible futures"and creating a strategy based on that analysis; and testing and questioning the strategy you're proposing.
Swot Analysis of "The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists" written by Amy Webb includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Futurists Patterns facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Futurists Patterns, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Futurists Patterns 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Futurists Patterns
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Futurists Patterns
Strengths The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Futurists Patterns in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Futurists Patterns to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Futurists Patterns to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Futurists Patterns is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Futurists Patterns 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Futurists Patterns is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Futurists Patterns has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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.
Analytics focus
– Futurists Patterns 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 Amy Webb 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Futurists Patterns digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Futurists Patterns 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Futurists Patterns in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Futurists Patterns 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Futurists Patterns is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Futurists Patterns 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 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 Futurists Patterns supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Futurists Patterns vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Futurists Patterns is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists, is just above the industry average. Futurists Patterns 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists, in the dynamic environment Futurists Patterns has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Futurists Patterns has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Futurists Patterns 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Futurists Patterns is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Futurists Patterns 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.
Opportunities The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists | 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Futurists Patterns 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Futurists Patterns can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Futurists Patterns can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Futurists Patterns can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Futurists Patterns operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Futurists Patterns can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Futurists Patterns can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Futurists Patterns 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. Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns in the consumer business. Now Futurists Patterns can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Futurists Patterns is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Futurists Patterns to increase its market reach. Futurists Patterns 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Futurists Patterns 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Futurists Patterns 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, The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Futurists Patterns 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.
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. Futurists Patterns 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.
Increasing wage structure of Futurists Patterns
– 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 Futurists Patterns.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Futurists Patterns is facing in Leadership & Managing People 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 Futurists Patterns.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Futurists Patterns 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 Futurists Patterns in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Futurists Patterns in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Futurists Patterns needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Futurists Patterns has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Futurists Patterns needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Futurists Patterns 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists .
Regulatory challenges
– Futurists Patterns 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 The Flare and Focus of Successful Futurists 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 Futurists Patterns needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.