Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D)
Supplement to case W97A17. In this set of six cases, students are placed into the role of the fictional Andrea Johnson, a recent graduate who has just begun her career at a mid-sized organization in the consumer electronics industry. While in the role of Andrea, university students and early-stage professionals follow Andrea's career development and are exposed to a variety of ethical challenges she encounters along the way. Each hypothetical scenario is based on real-world events and will illustrate the types of situations that students may encounter in the course of their career. The cases may be taught sequentially or as standalone scenarios. Case A is delivered in the inspection copy and purchased copy, and Cases B - F are delivered alongside the teaching note. A slide deck accompanies the comprehensive teaching note that provides an in-depth analysis of each scenario with tips on promoting student engagement to create an active and dynamic learning environment. The intent of the case series is to enable students to develop fundamental tools for how to recognize, address, and successfully overcome compromising situations.
Swot Analysis of "Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D)" written by George F. Halow, Brian Talbot includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Andrea Career facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Andrea Career, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Andrea Career
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 Andrea Career
Strengths Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Andrea Career in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Andrea Career
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Andrea Career does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Andrea Career in the sector have low bargaining power. Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Andrea Career to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Andrea Career to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Andrea Career to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Andrea Career is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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.
Analytics focus
– Andrea Career 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 George F. Halow, Brian Talbot 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) - 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Andrea Career is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Andrea Career 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Andrea Career has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) HBR case study mentions - Andrea Career 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D), 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Andrea Career is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Andrea Career 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D), it seems that the employees of Andrea Career 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Andrea Career 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Andrea Career 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 - Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Andrea Career is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Andrea Career 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Andrea Career 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. Andrea Career 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.
Opportunities Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) | 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) are -
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 Andrea Career in the consumer business. Now Andrea Career can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Andrea Career 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
– Andrea Career 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Andrea Career 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Andrea Career can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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.
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. Andrea Career can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Andrea Career 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Andrea Career 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Andrea Career can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Andrea Career operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Andrea Career is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Andrea Career to increase its market reach. Andrea Career 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Andrea Career to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Andrea Career 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, Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D), 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) are -
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. Andrea Career 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career.
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. Andrea Career needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Andrea Career 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Andrea Career has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Andrea Career 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.
Environmental challenges
– Andrea Career 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. Andrea Career can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Andrea Career can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Andrea Career 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Andrea Career 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D) 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 Andrea Career needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (D)
