Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market
First case in a series of six cases that follow the experience of a cable television company as it adjusts to the rapid rise and precipitous decline of the stock market in the late 1980s. In this case Don Jones, the company's founder and owner, sees the rise in public cable television company values as an opportunity to consolidate a degree of personal wealth. Concludes with Jones considering a range of harvesting strategies.
Swot Analysis of "Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market" written by William A. Sahlman, Burton C. Hurlock includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Harvesting Jones facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Entrepreneurial finance, Financial markets, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harvesting Jones, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harvesting Jones 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harvesting Jones
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 Harvesting Jones
Strengths Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Harvesting Jones in Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Harvesting Jones 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Harvesting Jones has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Harvesting Jones 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Harvesting Jones in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harvesting Jones to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harvesting Jones to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Harvesting Jones is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Harvesting Jones 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Harvesting Jones is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Harvesting Jones 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 Harvesting Jones in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Harvesting Jones 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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.
Learning organization
- Harvesting Jones 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 Harvesting Jones is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Harvesting Jones
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Harvesting Jones does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Harvesting Jones 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 - Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, it seems that the employees of Harvesting Jones 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, in the dynamic environment Harvesting Jones has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Harvesting Jones 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
– Harvesting Jones 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Harvesting Jones is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, William A. Sahlman, Burton C. Hurlock suggests that, Harvesting Jones 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Harvesting Jones 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Harvesting Jones 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.
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 Harvesting Jones supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Harvesting Jones vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Harvesting Jones, firm in the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market | 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Harvesting Jones 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Harvesting Jones 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Harvesting Jones 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 Harvesting Jones to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Harvesting Jones 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Harvesting Jones to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Harvesting Jones can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Harvesting Jones has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Harvesting Jones to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market case study. Harvesting Jones can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Harvesting Jones in the consumer business. Now Harvesting Jones can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Harvesting Jones 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Harvesting Jones 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Harvesting Jones is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Harvesting Jones 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, Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Harvesting Jones in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Harvesting Jones to increase its market reach. Harvesting Jones 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.
Threats Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Harvesting Jones.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Harvesting Jones with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Harvesting Jones 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.
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. Harvesting Jones can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Harvesting Jones needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Harvesting Jones 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Harvesting Jones 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Harvesting Jones 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market .
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 Harvesting Jones business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Harvesting Jones 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. Harvesting Jones can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market, Harvesting Jones 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 Harvesting Jones
– 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 Harvesting Jones.
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 Harvesting Jones in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Star Cablevision Group (A): Harvesting in a Bull Market 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 Harvesting Jones needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
