When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming
Rational, analytical, directed approaches for strategy creation and execution may work for creating value by conventional, hierarchically structured organizations operating in stable environments. However, when the basis of competition shifts from product features to an experience delivered by a network of independently acting participants in a complex and fast-evolving market environment, approaches based on command and control do not work. For order to emerge from such chaos and to gain more control over success, strategy based on reason alone is not enough to inspire action in others. To understand what it takes to effectively make strategy under such circumstances, this article shows how the UK's Royal Marines, in collaboration with more than a dozen different stakeholder groups, developed a novel adaptation of wargaming to affect strategic change in Afghanistan. It also demonstrates the broad applicability of this strategic approach.
Swot Analysis of "When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming" written by Arnoud Franken, Harry Thomsett includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wargaming Marines facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Networking, Strategy and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wargaming Marines, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wargaming Marines 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wargaming Marines
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 Wargaming Marines
Strengths When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wargaming Marines in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Wargaming Marines has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Wargaming Marines 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming - 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 lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Wargaming Marines is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wargaming Marines in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wargaming Marines in the sector have low bargaining power. When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wargaming Marines to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wargaming Marines 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wargaming Marines is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Wargaming Marines 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 Arnoud Franken, Harry Thomsett 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wargaming Marines to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wargaming Marines to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wargaming Marines has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wargaming Marines 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.
Weaknesses When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming are -
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 Wargaming Marines supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wargaming Marines vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming HBR case study mentions - Wargaming Marines takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wargaming Marines 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Wargaming Marines has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wargaming Marines is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Arnoud Franken, Harry Thomsett suggests that, Wargaming Marines 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Wargaming Marines is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines, firm in the HBR case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming, it seems that the employees of Wargaming Marines 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wargaming Marines 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.
Opportunities When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming | 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wargaming Marines is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Wargaming Marines can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wargaming Marines 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
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 Wargaming Marines in the consumer business. Now Wargaming Marines can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Wargaming Marines 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wargaming Marines 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 Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Wargaming Marines can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wargaming Marines to increase its market reach. Wargaming Marines 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Wargaming Marines 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. Wargaming Marines 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.
Threats When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming are -
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 Wargaming Marines.
Environmental challenges
– Wargaming Marines 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. Wargaming Marines can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Wargaming Marines 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wargaming Marines 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wargaming Marines 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming, Wargaming Marines 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Wargaming Marines
– 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 Wargaming Marines.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wargaming Marines 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wargaming Marines has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wargaming Marines 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wargaming Marines 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wargaming Marines 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 Wargaming Marines business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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 When It Takes a Network: Creating Strategy and Agility through Wargaming 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 Wargaming Marines needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
