Swot Analysis of "Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B)" written by Dwight B. Crane, Ricardo Reisen de Pinho includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ultra Quest facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Managing uncertainty, Negotiations and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ultra Quest, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ultra Quest 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ultra Quest
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 Ultra Quest
Strengths Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ultra Quest in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Ultra Quest has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ultra Quest to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Ultra Quest is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Ultra Quest
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ultra Quest does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ultra Quest digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ultra Quest 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.
Analytics focus
– Ultra Quest 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 Dwight B. Crane, Ricardo Reisen de Pinho 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
– Ultra Quest is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ultra Quest has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ultra Quest 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.
Learning organization
- Ultra Quest 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 Ultra Quest is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ultra Quest 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ultra Quest is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ultra Quest in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ultra Quest 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra Quest 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ultra Quest 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ultra Quest is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ultra Quest is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Ultra Quest needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ultra Quest to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ultra Quest 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ultra Quest, firm in the HBR case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ultra Quest 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 - Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B), is just above the industry average. Ultra Quest 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B), in the dynamic environment Ultra Quest has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ultra Quest has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Ultra Quest supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ultra Quest vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra Quest has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) | 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ultra Quest to increase its market reach. Ultra Quest 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ultra Quest 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ultra Quest 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 Ultra Quest to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ultra Quest is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ultra Quest can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ultra Quest can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Ultra Quest can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ultra Quest 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ultra Quest to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Ultra Quest 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ultra Quest 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ultra Quest can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ultra Quest has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ultra Quest to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) case study. Ultra Quest can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ultra Quest can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ultra Quest operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Threats Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ultra Quest is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ultra Quest has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ultra Quest 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B), Ultra Quest 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ultra Quest with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Ultra Quest.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ultra Quest 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ultra Quest can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Ultra Quest business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Ultra Quest 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ultra Quest 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) .
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.
Increasing wage structure of Ultra Quest
– 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 Ultra Quest.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (B) 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 Ultra Quest needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
