The Myth of a Classless Society SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Myth of a Classless Society
Social class- defined as one's relative socio-economic rank in society - is one of the key factors shaping educational and economic trajectories in a powerful way. Whether defined by parental income or education, research shows that social class of origin affects a child's future educational, occupational and economic attainment, as well as their mental and physical well-being. But until now, research has neglected a vital dimension of economic stratification: employment. The author describes his study, in which seemingly 'high class' male applicants for a job received four times as many call-backs as other categories of applicants-despite having identical resumes.
Swot Analysis of "The Myth of a Classless Society" written by Andras Tilcsik includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Applicants Economic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Myth of a Classless Society case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Talent management and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Myth of a Classless Society casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Myth of a Classless Society
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Myth of a Classless Society case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Applicants Economic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Applicants Economic 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 Myth of a Classless Society can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Myth of a Classless Society case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Applicants Economic
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Applicants Economic
Strengths The Myth of a Classless Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Applicants Economic in The Myth of a Classless Society Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Applicants Economic 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 Myth of a Classless Society - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– The Myth of a Classless Society firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Applicants Economic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Applicants Economic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Applicants Economic 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Applicants Economic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Applicants Economic 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Applicants Economic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Myth of a Classless Society 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 brand equity
– Applicants Economic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Applicants Economic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Applicants Economic 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 Applicants Economic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Myth of a Classless Society Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Applicants Economic has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in The Myth of a Classless Society HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Applicants Economic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Applicants Economic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Applicants Economic 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.
Analytics focus
– Applicants Economic 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 Andras Tilcsik 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Applicants Economic in the sector have low bargaining power. The Myth of a Classless Society has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Applicants Economic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses The Myth of a Classless Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Myth of a Classless Society are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Applicants Economic 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Myth of a Classless Society HBR case study mentions - Applicants Economic 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Myth of a Classless Society, is just above the industry average. Applicants Economic 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andras Tilcsik suggests that, Applicants Economic 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Myth of a Classless Society, in the dynamic environment Applicants Economic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Applicants Economic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Applicants Economic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Myth of a Classless Society can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Applicants Economic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Applicants Economic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Applicants Economic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Myth of a Classless Society, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Applicants Economic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Applicants Economic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Applicants Economic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Applicants Economic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Myth of a Classless Society 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 Applicants Economic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Applicants Economic 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. Applicants Economic 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 The Myth of a Classless Society | 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 Myth of a Classless Society are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Applicants Economic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Myth of a Classless Society 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Applicants Economic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Applicants Economic 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Applicants Economic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Applicants Economic 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. Applicants Economic 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Applicants Economic can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Applicants Economic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Applicants Economic 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Applicants Economic to increase its market reach. Applicants Economic 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Applicants Economic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Myth of a Classless Society 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Applicants Economic 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 Global Business segment.
Loyalty marketing
– Applicants Economic 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.
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 Applicants Economic in the consumer business. Now Applicants Economic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The Myth of a Classless Society External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Myth of a Classless Society are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Applicants Economic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Applicants Economic needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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, Applicants Economic 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 Myth of a Classless Society .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Applicants Economic is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Applicants Economic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Applicants Economic 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Applicants Economic in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
Environmental challenges
– Applicants Economic 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. Applicants Economic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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 Applicants Economic.
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. Applicants Economic 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Applicants Economic 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 Applicants Economic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Applicants Economic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Myth of a Classless Society, Applicants Economic may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Myth of a Classless Society 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 Myth of a Classless Society 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 Myth of a Classless Society 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 Myth of a Classless Society 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 Myth of a Classless Society 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 Applicants Economic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
