Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System
Donya Brewer, the Director of Human Resources at Stress Engineering Services , was asked to evaluate the firm's peer feedback system and update it to better align with the organization's needs as it continued to grow in the 21st century. Developed internally, the current system had undergone minor revisions over several decades, used cumbersome proprietary software and, increasingly, had not been meeting the needs of managerial and supervisory personnel to provide effective guidance for continuing professional development of employees in all lines of work. Brewer and her project team were tasked to increase the efficacy of the peer feedback system while preserving the system's role in fostering the collaborative culture at SES. Part A describes the organization and its peer feedback system and details the front-end, investigative phase of the project. Data is presented and students are asked to assess utilization of the current system. Brewer's team was particularly interested in learning about employee participation in the program, and the quality of the data that it provided to participants. Was it useful to each employee and to their supervisors to guide further professional development?
Authors :: Joseph K Kavanaugh, Sanjay Mehta, Donya Brewer, Matt Mistric
Swot Analysis of "Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System" written by Joseph K Kavanaugh, Sanjay Mehta, Donya Brewer, Matt Mistric includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Peer Feedback facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Assessing performance and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Peer Feedback, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Peer Feedback
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 Peer Feedback
Strengths Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Peer Feedback in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Peer Feedback has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Peer Feedback in the sector have low bargaining power. Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Peer Feedback to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Peer Feedback
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Peer Feedback does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Peer Feedback is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Peer Feedback has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Peer Feedback 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Peer Feedback in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Peer Feedback 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 Joseph K Kavanaugh, Sanjay Mehta, Donya Brewer, Matt Mistric 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Peer Feedback is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System, in the dynamic environment Peer Feedback has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Peer Feedback has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System, is just above the industry average. Peer Feedback 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Peer Feedback 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Peer Feedback 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. Peer Feedback 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Peer Feedback, firm in the HBR case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Peer Feedback 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Peer Feedback 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 - Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Peer Feedback 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.
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 Peer Feedback supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Peer Feedback vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System, it seems that the employees of Peer Feedback don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Lack of clear differentiation of Peer Feedback products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Peer Feedback needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System | 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System are -
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. Peer Feedback can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Peer Feedback in the consumer business. Now Peer Feedback can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Peer Feedback 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Peer Feedback can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Peer Feedback operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Peer Feedback to increase its market reach. Peer Feedback 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Peer Feedback to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Peer Feedback 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.
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. Peer Feedback can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Peer Feedback 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Peer Feedback can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Peer Feedback 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Peer Feedback is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Peer Feedback has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Peer Feedback to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System case study. Peer Feedback can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System are -
Regulatory challenges
– Peer Feedback 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.
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 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. Peer Feedback needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Peer Feedback 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System, Peer Feedback 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 .
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 Peer Feedback business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Peer Feedback with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Peer Feedback in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Peer Feedback 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System .
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. Peer Feedback can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Peer Feedback.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Peer Feedback 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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 Peer Feedback At Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (A): Description and Analysis of the Current Performance System 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 Peer Feedback needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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