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Knoll Furniture: Going Public SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Knoll Furniture: Going Public


This case examines the decisions of John Lynch, president and CEO of Knoll Furniture, to go public in early 1997. Knoll went private in an LBO in 1996 and Warburg Pincus, the LBO sponsor, wants Lynch to take Knoll public. Lynch needs to weigh the positive and negative issues of a public offering.

Authors :: Paul A. Gompers, Jon Asher Daniels

Topics :: Finance & Accounting

Tags :: Economy, IPO, Mergers & acquisitions, Venture capital, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Knoll Furniture: Going Public" written by Paul A. Gompers, Jon Asher Daniels includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Knoll Lynch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Knoll Furniture: Going Public case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, IPO, Mergers & acquisitions, Venture capital and Finance & Accounting.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Knoll Furniture: Going Public casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Knoll Furniture: Going Public


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Knoll Furniture: Going Public case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Knoll Lynch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Knoll Lynch 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Knoll Furniture: Going Public case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Knoll Lynch
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Knoll Lynch




Strengths Knoll Furniture: Going Public | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Knoll Lynch in Knoll Furniture: Going Public Harvard Business Review case study are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry

– Knoll Furniture: Going Public firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Knoll Lynch to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Knoll Lynch to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Diverse revenue streams

– Knoll Lynch is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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

– Knoll Lynch is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Knoll Furniture: Going Public Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Knoll Lynch in the sector have low bargaining power. Knoll Furniture: Going Public has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Knoll Lynch to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Knoll Lynch has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Knoll Lynch 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.

Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field

– Knoll Lynch 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 Knoll Lynch in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Knoll Lynch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Knoll Lynch is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Knoll Furniture: Going Public are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Knoll Lynch 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.






Weaknesses Knoll Furniture: Going Public | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Knoll Furniture: Going Public are -

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Knoll Lynch has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Knoll Lynch 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Knoll Furniture: Going Public, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Knoll Lynch 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 decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Knoll Lynch 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. Knoll Lynch 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Knoll Lynch products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Knoll Lynch needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Need for greater diversity

– Knoll Lynch 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Knoll Furniture: Going Public, in the dynamic environment Knoll Lynch has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Knoll Lynch has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Paul A. Gompers, Jon Asher Daniels suggests that, Knoll Lynch 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Knoll Furniture: Going Public, it seems that the employees of Knoll Lynch 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.




Opportunities Knoll Furniture: Going Public | 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public are -

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Knoll Lynch can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Knoll Lynch 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. Knoll Lynch 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Knoll Lynch 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Knoll Lynch to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Knoll Lynch 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, Knoll Furniture: Going Public, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Knoll Lynch can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Knoll Lynch 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.

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 Knoll Lynch 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.

Better consumer reach

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

Manufacturing automation

– Knoll Lynch can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Knoll Lynch 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.

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

Buying journey improvements

– Knoll Lynch can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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.




Threats Knoll Furniture: Going Public External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Knoll Furniture: Going Public are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Knoll Lynch with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Increasing wage structure of Knoll Lynch

– 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 Knoll Lynch.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Knoll Lynch in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Knoll Lynch has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Knoll Lynch needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.

Environmental challenges

– Knoll Lynch 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. Knoll Lynch can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting 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. Knoll Lynch needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Knoll Lynch 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Knoll Lynch 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Knoll Lynch is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Knoll Furniture: Going Public, Knoll Lynch may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .

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 Knoll Lynch in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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 Knoll Furniture: Going Public 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 Knoll Lynch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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