Swot Analysis of "Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies" written by William A. Sahlman, Burton C. Hurlock includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Constituencies Cablevision facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Constituencies Cablevision, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Constituencies Cablevision 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Constituencies Cablevision
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 Constituencies Cablevision
Strengths Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Constituencies Cablevision in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Constituencies Cablevision in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Constituencies Cablevision is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Constituencies Cablevision has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Constituencies Cablevision to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Constituencies Cablevision is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Constituencies Cablevision has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Constituencies Cablevision 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Constituencies Cablevision 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 William A. Sahlman, Burton C. Hurlock 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.
Learning organization
- Constituencies Cablevision 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 Constituencies Cablevision is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Constituencies Cablevision is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Constituencies Cablevision to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Constituencies Cablevision to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Constituencies Cablevision has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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.
Weaknesses Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Constituencies Cablevision is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Constituencies Cablevision 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies HBR case study mentions - Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Constituencies Cablevision 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Constituencies Cablevision, firm in the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Constituencies Cablevision is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Constituencies Cablevision needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Constituencies Cablevision to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Constituencies Cablevision 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. Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies, is just above the industry average. Constituencies Cablevision 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 Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies, in the dynamic environment Constituencies Cablevision has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Constituencies Cablevision has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies | 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies are -
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. Constituencies Cablevision 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. Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Constituencies Cablevision has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Constituencies Cablevision to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies case study. Constituencies Cablevision can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Constituencies Cablevision can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Constituencies Cablevision can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Constituencies Cablevision operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Constituencies Cablevision 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 Constituencies Cablevision to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Constituencies Cablevision can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Constituencies Cablevision 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.
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. Constituencies Cablevision 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 Constituencies Cablevision 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 Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Constituencies Cablevision can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Constituencies Cablevision is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Threats Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Constituencies Cablevision 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, Constituencies Cablevision 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies .
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 Constituencies Cablevision business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Constituencies Cablevision.
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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Constituencies Cablevision will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Constituencies Cablevision 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Constituencies Cablevision with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Constituencies Cablevision in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Constituencies Cablevision 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. Constituencies Cablevision can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Constituencies Cablevision 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.
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.
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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies, Constituencies Cablevision 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Star Cablevision Group (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 (D): Financial Crisis and Managing Constituencies 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 Constituencies Cablevision needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.