Case Study Description of Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive"
Taiwan has enjoyed remarkable growth since 1950. This case presents differing views of the role and contribution of the state in this process. Then it explores recent industrial policy in semiconductors.
Swot Analysis of "Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive"" written by Bruce R. Scott, Jamie L. Matthews includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Taiwan Paranoid facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Taiwan Paranoid, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Taiwan Paranoid
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Taiwan Paranoid
Strengths Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Taiwan Paranoid in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Taiwan Paranoid 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 Bruce R. Scott, Jamie L. Matthews 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.
Organizational Resilience of Taiwan Paranoid
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Taiwan Paranoid does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Taiwan Paranoid 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
– Taiwan Paranoid 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
– Taiwan Paranoid has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Taiwan Paranoid to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Taiwan Paranoid in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan Paranoid is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan Paranoid in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Taiwan Paranoid is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Taiwan Paranoid is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Taiwan Paranoid 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 - Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Taiwan Paranoid has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive", in the dynamic environment Taiwan Paranoid has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Taiwan Paranoid has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan Paranoid 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Taiwan Paranoid 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Taiwan Paranoid is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Taiwan Paranoid needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Taiwan Paranoid to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Taiwan Paranoid is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" HBR case study mentions - Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Opportunities Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" | 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Taiwan Paranoid has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Taiwan Paranoid to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" case study. Taiwan Paranoid can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Taiwan Paranoid in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Taiwan Paranoid in the consumer business. Now Taiwan Paranoid can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Taiwan Paranoid to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Taiwan Paranoid 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. Taiwan Paranoid can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan Paranoid to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Taiwan Paranoid is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Taiwan Paranoid to increase its market reach. Taiwan Paranoid 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.
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. Taiwan Paranoid can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Taiwan Paranoid can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Taiwan Paranoid 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 Global Business segment.
Threats Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Taiwan Paranoid is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Taiwan Paranoid.
Increasing wage structure of Taiwan Paranoid
– 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 Taiwan Paranoid.
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 Taiwan Paranoid in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Taiwan Paranoid 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive", Taiwan Paranoid may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Taiwan Paranoid has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Taiwan Paranoid needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Environmental challenges
– Taiwan Paranoid 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. Taiwan Paranoid can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Taiwan Paranoid 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Taiwan Paranoid 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan: "Only the Paranoid Survive" 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 Taiwan Paranoid needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.