The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World
The author, a senior partner with the Boston Consulting Group, set out to answer the question, 'Is strategy still relevant?' He found that not only is it relevant, but doing things in a differentiated way is more important than ever. The trick is to figure out three characteristics of the environment you operate within: unpredictability, malleability and harshness. Ranking a business on these factors leads to one of five strategic approaches: classic strategy; adaptive strategy; the visionary approach; the shaping approach; or strategic renewal. In the end he shows that you can generate value by engaging with each opportunity with the right framing and awareness.
Swot Analysis of "The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World" written by Martin Reeves includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Malleability Unpredictability facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning, Strategic thinking and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Malleability Unpredictability, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Malleability Unpredictability
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Malleability Unpredictability
Strengths The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Malleability Unpredictability in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Malleability Unpredictability in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Malleability Unpredictability has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Malleability Unpredictability to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Malleability Unpredictability is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Malleability Unpredictability is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Malleability Unpredictability is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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
– Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Malleability Unpredictability 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 Martin Reeves 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.
Learning organization
- Malleability Unpredictability 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 Malleability Unpredictability is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Malleability Unpredictability 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 Malleability Unpredictability in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Malleability Unpredictability has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Weaknesses The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World HBR case study mentions - Malleability Unpredictability 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, Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World, in the dynamic environment Malleability Unpredictability has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Malleability Unpredictability has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Malleability Unpredictability 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 - The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World, is just above the industry average. Malleability Unpredictability 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Malleability Unpredictability has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Malleability Unpredictability 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. Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Malleability Unpredictability is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Malleability Unpredictability needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Malleability Unpredictability to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Malleability Unpredictability is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World | 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Malleability Unpredictability can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Malleability Unpredictability can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Malleability Unpredictability 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. Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Malleability Unpredictability is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Malleability Unpredictability can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Malleability Unpredictability operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Malleability Unpredictability in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Malleability Unpredictability 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 Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Malleability Unpredictability 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Malleability Unpredictability to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Malleability Unpredictability can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Malleability Unpredictability is facing in Strategy & Execution 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 Malleability Unpredictability with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Malleability Unpredictability 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Malleability Unpredictability in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Increasing wage structure of Malleability Unpredictability
– 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 Malleability Unpredictability.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Malleability Unpredictability has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Malleability Unpredictability needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Malleability Unpredictability business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Malleability Unpredictability 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Malleability Unpredictability 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.
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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World, Malleability Unpredictability may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Malleability Unpredictability can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Malleability Unpredictability 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.
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. Malleability Unpredictability needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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 Strategy Palette: Five Approaches to Strategy for a Complex World 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 Malleability Unpredictability needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
