Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry
Senn Delaney is a culture-shaping consulting firm located in California. From 1999-2012, the firm was led by CEO Jim Hart. The case traces Senn Delaney's path from acquisition target in 1999 to private buyout after failure of the acquirer in 2003. It also examines the significant investments the firm made in culture, structure, and technology to restore and expand its capacity to serve its clients. When faced with a decision point for exit, stakes are high as Hart and the legacy partners decide what entrepreneurial exit strategy will provide the greatest reward for the firm and its partners.
Swot Analysis of "Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry" written by Justin I. Miller, Emily Hazlett includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Senn Delaney facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Organizational structure and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Senn Delaney, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Senn Delaney
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Senn Delaney
Strengths Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Senn Delaney in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Senn Delaney has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Senn Delaney is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Senn Delaney in the sector have low bargaining power. Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Senn Delaney to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Senn Delaney has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Senn Delaney to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Senn Delaney 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Senn Delaney to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Senn Delaney to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Senn Delaney 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Senn Delaney is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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.
Weaknesses Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry, it seems that the employees of Senn Delaney 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Senn Delaney is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Senn Delaney needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Senn Delaney 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, Senn Delaney is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry HBR case study mentions - Senn Delaney 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Senn Delaney 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Senn Delaney 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 - Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Senn Delaney 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry, in the dynamic environment Senn Delaney has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Senn Delaney has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Senn Delaney, firm in the HBR case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Justin I. Miller, Emily Hazlett suggests that, Senn Delaney 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Opportunities Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry | 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney in the consumer business. Now Senn Delaney can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Senn Delaney 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Senn Delaney in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Senn Delaney to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Senn Delaney 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. Senn Delaney 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.
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 Senn Delaney 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Senn Delaney 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Senn Delaney can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Senn Delaney is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Senn Delaney can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Senn Delaney operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Senn Delaney can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Senn Delaney can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Senn Delaney has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Senn Delaney needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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, Senn Delaney 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry .
Environmental challenges
– Senn Delaney 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. Senn Delaney can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Senn Delaney business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Senn Delaney with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Senn Delaney 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.
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 Senn Delaney.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Senn Delaney in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing wage structure of Senn Delaney
– 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 Senn Delaney.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry, Senn Delaney may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Senn Delaney in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Senn Delaney needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Senn Delaney 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney: An Entrepreneurial Exit In the Consulting Industry 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 Senn Delaney needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
