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Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought


Until now, diversity initiatives have focused primarily on fairness for legally-protected populations. But the smartest organizations today are embracing and harnessing a more powerful and nuanced type of diversity: Diversity of thought. The authors show that increasing diversity of thought at your organization entails three steps: Hiring differently; managing differently; and advancing differently. They describe how to go about each step to achieve an inclusive culture characterized by diversity of thought.

Authors :: Anesa Parker, Carmen Medina, Beth Schill

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: Leadership, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought" written by Anesa Parker, Carmen Medina, Beth Schill includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Diversity Diversity's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Organizational Development.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Diversity Diversity's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Diversity Diversity's
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 Diversity Diversity's




Strengths Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Diversity Diversity's in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought Harvard Business Review case study are -

Learning organization

- Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity Diversity's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Diversity Diversity's 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.

Analytics focus

– Diversity Diversity's 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 Anesa Parker, Carmen Medina, Beth Schill 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Diversity Diversity's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Diversity Diversity's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Diversity Diversity's 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.

Training and development

– Diversity Diversity's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Diversity Diversity's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Diversity Diversity's 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Diversity Diversity's in the sector have low bargaining power. Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Diversity Diversity's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Diversity Diversity's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.






Weaknesses Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anesa Parker, Carmen Medina, Beth Schill suggests that, Diversity Diversity's 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought, is just above the industry average. Diversity Diversity's 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Diversity Diversity's 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. Diversity Diversity's 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Diversity Diversity's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

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 Diversity Diversity's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Diversity Diversity's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Diversity Diversity's 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 - Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Diversity Diversity's, firm in the HBR case study Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Diversity Diversity's products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Diversity Diversity's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Diversity Diversity's 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Diversity Diversity's is planning to shift buying processes online.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Diversity Diversity's 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.




Opportunities Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought | 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Diversity Diversity's 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Diversity Diversity's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Diversity Diversity's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought case study. Diversity Diversity's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Diversity Diversity's 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.

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. Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity Diversity's 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity Diversity's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Loyalty marketing

– Diversity Diversity's 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Diversity Diversity's can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.

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 Diversity Diversity's 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Diversity Diversity's 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Diversity Diversity's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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. Diversity Diversity's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Diversity Diversity's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Diversity Diversity's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Diversity Diversity's to increase its market reach. Diversity Diversity's 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.




Threats Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Diversity Diversity's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing wage structure of Diversity Diversity's

– 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 Diversity Diversity's.

Environmental challenges

– Diversity Diversity's 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. Diversity Diversity's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development 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 Diversity Diversity's.

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Diversity Diversity's 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.

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 Diversity Diversity's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 Diversity Diversity's in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Diversity Diversity's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Diversity Diversity's 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Diversity Diversity's is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Diversity Diversity's 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.

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity's New Frontier: Diversity of Thought 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 Diversity Diversity's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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