You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation
Bestsellers like The Lean Startup and Business Model Generation have suggested that ideation-the generation and selection of ideas-is important to new venture creation; yet little empirical research on the topic has been conducted. Using a creative problem solving approach, we developed and tested a new scale that found imaginativeness predicts new venture ideation over and above the effects of the usual suspects of attitude, knowledge, and evaluation. Imaginativeness is an ideational skill that combines task-relevant knowledge in three distinct domains-creative, social, and practical-with the latent ability of imagination. In the article, we explain why a new scale was needed, why imaginativeness appears to be especially useful to individuals who lack entrepreneurial experience, and how imaginativeness enables just about anyone to generate and select new venture ideas with the proficiency of a habitual entrepreneur.
Swot Analysis of "You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation" written by Jeffery S. McMullen, Alexander S. Kier includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Imaginativeness Ideation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Imaginativeness Ideation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Imaginativeness Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Imaginativeness Ideation
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 Imaginativeness Ideation
Strengths You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Imaginativeness Ideation in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 Jeffery S. McMullen, Alexander S. Kier 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
High brand equity
– Imaginativeness Ideation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Imaginativeness Ideation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Imaginativeness Ideation is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Imaginativeness Ideation 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 Imaginativeness Ideation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Imaginativeness Ideation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Imaginativeness Ideation in the sector have low bargaining power. You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Imaginativeness Ideation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Imaginativeness Ideation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Organizational Resilience of Imaginativeness Ideation
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Imaginativeness Ideation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 Imaginativeness Ideation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Imaginativeness Ideation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Imaginativeness Ideation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Imaginativeness Ideation 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, Imaginativeness Ideation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 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 Imaginativeness Ideation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Imaginativeness Ideation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Imaginativeness Ideation 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. Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation, is just above the industry average. Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 Imaginativeness Ideation 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Imaginativeness Ideation 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 - You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation HBR case study mentions - Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Imaginativeness Ideation is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation | 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Imaginativeness Ideation to increase its market reach. Imaginativeness Ideation will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Imaginativeness Ideation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Imaginativeness Ideation 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 Imaginativeness Ideation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Imaginativeness Ideation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Imaginativeness Ideation to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation case study. Imaginativeness Ideation can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Imaginativeness Ideation 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Imaginativeness Ideation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Imaginativeness Ideation in the consumer business. Now Imaginativeness Ideation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
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 Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Imaginativeness Ideation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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. Imaginativeness Ideation will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Imaginativeness Ideation in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Imaginativeness Ideation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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
– Imaginativeness Ideation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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 Imaginativeness Ideation.
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. Imaginativeness Ideation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
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 Imaginativeness Ideation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Imaginativeness Ideation 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. Imaginativeness Ideation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Imaginativeness Ideation 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Imaginativeness Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 You Don't Have to Be an Entrepreneur to Be Entrepreneurial: The Unique Role of Imaginativeness in New Venture Ideation 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 Imaginativeness Ideation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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