The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm
In April 2017, Mr. Kristian Groth, a successful entrepreneur and founder of the Leith Society, was considering his next move. The Leith Society is a professional development and networking organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The firm differentiated itself from numerous competitors through its intensely personal approach, in which members (primarly businesspeople but also participants from the creative professions) sought out their true inner selves through interaction with groups of like-minded individuals facilitated by trained psychologists. No online presence was in place, and in fact was rejected by the founder. Less than four years old, annual revenues had grown to nearly 30 million DKK (about 4 million USD) from the 650+ active members, and margins approximated 40%. The firm had successfully transferred its value proposition to nearby Norway and the Netherlands (in Oslo and Amsterdam respectively), but Mr. Groth had his sights on larger markets. He had recently recruited a seasoned manager as CEO and tasked him with development of a detailed operating system which, he believed, would allow for rapid scaling of the organization into new markets. The two had undertaken a visit to the USA in that Spring of 2017 to explore options there; during the trip a meeting at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley with students in an MBA global strategy course raised the possibility of also entering China.
Swot Analysis of "The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm" written by Paul Tiffany includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leith Groth facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management, Growth strategy, International business, Managing people, Networking, Supply chain and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, technology disruption,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leith Groth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leith Groth 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leith Groth
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Leith Groth
Strengths The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leith Groth in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Leith Groth 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Leith Groth digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Leith Groth 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.
Organizational Resilience of Leith Groth
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leith Groth does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Leith Groth is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Leith Groth is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Leith Groth 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 The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Leith Groth in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Leith Groth has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Leith Groth 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Leith Groth in the sector have low bargaining power. The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Leith Groth to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Leith Groth 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 Leith Groth 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 Organizational Development industry
– The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Leith Groth to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Leith Groth to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm are -
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 Leith Groth supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Leith Groth vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, it seems that the employees of Leith Groth 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Groth has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm HBR case study mentions - Leith Groth 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Leith Groth 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Leith Groth 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Leith Groth needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Leith Groth 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Leith Groth is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, in the dynamic environment Leith Groth has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Leith Groth has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm | 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm are -
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 Leith Groth 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Leith Groth 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 Organizational Development segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Leith Groth 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 The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Leith Groth 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, Leith Groth 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Leith Groth can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Leith Groth can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Leith Groth can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Leith Groth 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. Leith Groth 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 Leith Groth in the consumer business. Now Leith Groth can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Leith Groth in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Leith Groth can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Leith Groth 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Leith Groth has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leith Groth to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm case study. Leith Groth can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm are -
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.
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. Leith Groth 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Leith Groth can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Leith Groth in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Leith Groth 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Leith Groth 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, Leith Groth 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm, Leith Groth may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Leith Groth with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Leith Groth has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Leith Groth needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Leith Groth 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. Leith Groth can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Leith Groth in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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 The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm 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 Leith Groth 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 The Leith Society: Managing International Growth for a Professional Development and Networking Firm