How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization
Haas School of Business Professor David Teece and his colleagues created the Dynamic Capabilities Framework, showing that three capabilities-sensing, seizing and transforming-enable firms to sense opportunities sooner than their rivals, seize them more effectively, and support the organizational transformation that this entails. The authors take this theory a step further by adding two 'sub-capabilities' to each Dynamic Capability, including 'peripheral vision', experimentation and vigilant learning. They then provide a case study on DuPont's biofuel initiative, showing how all six sub-capabilities manifest themselves in strategy.
Swot Analysis of "How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization" written by George S. Day, Paul J.H. Schoemaker includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Capabilities Seize facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Psychology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Capabilities Seize, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Capabilities Seize 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Capabilities Seize
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 Capabilities Seize
Strengths How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Capabilities Seize in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Capabilities Seize in the sector have low bargaining power. How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Capabilities Seize to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Capabilities Seize is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Capabilities Seize 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Capabilities Seize 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Capabilities Seize in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Capabilities Seize 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 Capabilities Seize in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Capabilities Seize has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Capabilities Seize to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Capabilities Seize is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Capabilities Seize is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Capabilities Seize has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Capabilities Seize has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Capabilities Seize is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Capabilities Seize has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Capabilities Seize is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization, in the dynamic environment Capabilities Seize has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Capabilities Seize has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Capabilities Seize products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Capabilities Seize needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Capabilities Seize is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Capabilities Seize needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Capabilities Seize to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization, is just above the industry average. Capabilities Seize 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Capabilities Seize 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Capabilities Seize 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.
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 Capabilities Seize supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Capabilities Seize vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 Capabilities Seize 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization | 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Capabilities Seize 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Capabilities Seize 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. Capabilities Seize can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Capabilities Seize 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.
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. Capabilities Seize can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Capabilities Seize can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Capabilities Seize can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Capabilities Seize 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Capabilities Seize 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.
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. Capabilities Seize 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. Capabilities Seize 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Capabilities Seize can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Capabilities Seize can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Capabilities Seize operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Capabilities Seize can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Capabilities Seize 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.
Threats How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization are -
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.
Increasing wage structure of Capabilities Seize
– 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 Capabilities Seize.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Capabilities Seize 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.
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 Capabilities Seize.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Capabilities Seize has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Capabilities Seize 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.
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 Capabilities Seize in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Capabilities Seize with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Capabilities Seize business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Capabilities Seize 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Capabilities Seize 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Capabilities Seize 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. Capabilities Seize can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Capabilities Seize needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Capabilities Seize can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 How to Sense and Seize Opportunities - and Transform Your Organization 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 Capabilities Seize needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.