Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B)
Supplement to case W97A17. In this set of six cases, students are placed into the role of the fictional Andrea Johnson, a recent graduate who has just begun her career at a mid-sized organization in the consumer electronics industry. While in the role of Andrea, university students and early-stage professionals follow Andrea's career development and are exposed to a variety of ethical challenges she encounters along the way. Each hypothetical scenario is based on real-world events and will illustrate the types of situations that students may encounter in the course of their career. The cases may be taught sequentially or as standalone scenarios. Case A is delivered in the inspection copy and purchased copy, and Cases B - F are delivered alongside the teaching note. A slide deck accompanies the comprehensive teaching note that provides an in-depth analysis of each scenario with tips on promoting student engagement to create an active and dynamic learning environment. The intent of the case series is to enable students to develop fundamental tools for how to recognize, address, and successfully overcome compromising situations.
Swot Analysis of "Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B)" written by George F. Halow, Brian Talbot includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Andrea Career facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Andrea Career, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Andrea Career
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Andrea Career
Strengths Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Andrea Career in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Andrea Career in the sector have low bargaining power. Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Andrea Career to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Andrea Career is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Andrea Career is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Andrea Career digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Andrea Career 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) - 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 Leadership & Managing People industry
– Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Andrea Career to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Andrea Career to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Andrea Career has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Andrea Career 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Andrea Career 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
– Andrea Career 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 George F. Halow, Brian Talbot 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.
Organizational Resilience of Andrea Career
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Andrea Career does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Andrea Career is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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.
Training and development
– Andrea Career has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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.
Weaknesses Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Andrea Career 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Andrea Career 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Andrea Career 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 - Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Andrea Career 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Andrea Career is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Andrea Career needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Andrea Career to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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, Andrea Career 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B), in the dynamic environment Andrea Career has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Andrea Career has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Andrea Career 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B), is just above the industry average. Andrea Career 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Andrea Career, firm in the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) | 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Andrea Career 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Andrea Career has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Andrea Career to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) case study. Andrea Career can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Andrea Career 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. Andrea Career 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Andrea Career can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Andrea Career operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Andrea Career can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Andrea Career 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Andrea Career 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Andrea Career to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Andrea Career can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Andrea Career in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Andrea Career can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Andrea Career in the consumer business. Now Andrea Career can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Andrea Career can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B), Andrea Career may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Andrea Career has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Andrea Career needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Andrea Career 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Andrea Career
– 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 Andrea Career.
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 Andrea Career.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Andrea Career 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Andrea Career with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Andrea Career 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 Andrea Career 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.
Environmental challenges
– Andrea Career 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. Andrea Career can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Andrea Career in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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 Ethics and Integrity in Business: Navigating Ethical Risks and Transgressions in the Workplace (B) 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 Andrea Career needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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