The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business

While some organizations swear by the benefits of transparency and are eager to learn and implement transparency practices, many managers are still reluctant or even afraid to use them. Our research reveals that only a few innovative companies have taken steps to leverage a potentially useful form of transparency: the provision of accessible and objective information to customers (e.g., sharing unbiased benchmark data, publishing unfiltered customer comments, or providing candid product reviews that may praise but also criticize the company's products). Our study also shows that many companies remain wary and view greater calls for transparency as a challenge to be managed rather than an opportunity to be traded upon. This is partly due to limited research into the performance benefits of giving customers access to objective information, and lack of practical guidelines on how to actually implement it. This article addresses these shortcomings. First, we investigate whether performance transparency leads to customer outcomes that can be profitable for an organization and, second, we analyze the characteristics of successful transparency initiatives in a wide range of industries. Our research shows that customers exhibit more trust and are willing to pay a premium to deal with transparent businesses. Also, it uncovers seven effective strategies to leverage transparency. This article provides convincing empirical evidence for the benefits of performance transparency and the ways in which management may implement it successfully.

Authors :: Omar Merlo, Andreas B. Eisingerich, Seigyoung Auh, Jaka Levstek

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: IT, Transparency, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business" written by Omar Merlo, Andreas B. Eisingerich, Seigyoung Auh, Jaka Levstek includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Transparency Benefits facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Transparency and Leadership & Managing People.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Transparency Benefits, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Transparency Benefits 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Transparency Benefits
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 Transparency Benefits

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Strengths The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Transparency Benefits in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business Harvard Business Review case study are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Transparency Benefits to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Transparency Benefits to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Training and development

– Transparency Benefits has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Transparency Benefits 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Diverse revenue streams

– Transparency Benefits is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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.

Analytics focus

– Transparency Benefits 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 Omar Merlo, Andreas B. Eisingerich, Seigyoung Auh, Jaka Levstek 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Transparency Benefits is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

High brand equity

– Transparency Benefits has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Transparency Benefits to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Organizational Resilience of Transparency Benefits

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Transparency Benefits does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Transparency Benefits is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Learning organization

- Transparency Benefits 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 Transparency Benefits is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Transparency Benefits 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

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Weaknesses The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business are -

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, it seems that the employees of Transparency Benefits 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Transparency Benefits is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Transparency Benefits needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Transparency Benefits to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Transparency Benefits 's lucrative customers.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Transparency Benefits is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Omar Merlo, Andreas B. Eisingerich, Seigyoung Auh, Jaka Levstek suggests that, Transparency Benefits is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, in the dynamic environment Transparency Benefits has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Transparency Benefits has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Need for greater diversity

– Transparency Benefits 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, is just above the industry average. Transparency Benefits 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Transparency Benefits 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Transparency Benefits 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.

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Opportunities The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business | 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Transparency Benefits is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Transparency Benefits 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

– Transparency Benefits 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

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. Transparency Benefits can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Transparency Benefits 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, The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Buying journey improvements

– Transparency Benefits can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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.

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. Transparency Benefits 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. Transparency Benefits 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.

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 Transparency Benefits in the consumer business. Now Transparency Benefits can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Transparency Benefits to increase its market reach. Transparency Benefits 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

– Transparency Benefits 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Transparency Benefits 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 Transparency Benefits 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Transparency Benefits can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Transparency Benefits operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

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Threats The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Transparency Benefits has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Transparency Benefits 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Transparency Benefits 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.

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 Transparency Benefits in the Leadership & Managing People 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 Transparency Benefits with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business, Transparency Benefits 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 .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Transparency Benefits 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

– Transparency Benefits 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. Transparency Benefits can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Transparency Benefits.

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

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. Transparency Benefits 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 Transparency Benefits in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Transparency Benefits 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 The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business .

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 Transparency Benefits business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Benefits and Implementation of Performance Transparency: The Why and How of Letting Your Customers 'See Through' Your Business 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 Transparency Benefits needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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