Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement
Ockham Technologies' three founders are about to craft their founding agreement and split the equity among themselves. Uncertainty lingers over each member's future contributions, though - how is the team to devise a durable and effective split? Jim Triandiflou and Ken Burows worked resolutely to plan for the launch of their sales management software company. Soon they recruited a third member, Mike Meisenheimer, to lead product development. Each founder had contributed significantly to bringing the Ockham concept to life. The trio had provided the seed capital of $150,000, contracted a development team to build their product, garnered serious interest from a potential investor, and readily agreed on their roles within the company (Jim was CEO, Ken was COO, and Mike was Head of Product Management). But as Ockham entered its initial phase of product development, pressure began mounting for the team to discuss and finalize a founding agreement. What should they include in the agreement, and how should they structure their equity split?
Swot Analysis of "Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement" written by Noam Wasserman, Yael Braid includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ockham Split facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Collaboration, Conflict, Disruptive innovation, Diversity, Labor, Leading teams, Operations management, Product development, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ockham Split, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ockham Split 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ockham Split
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ockham Split
Strengths Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ockham Split in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ockham Split digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ockham Split has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ockham Split is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ockham Split to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ockham Split to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Ockham Split 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 Noam Wasserman, Yael Braid 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.
Training and development
– Ockham Split has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ockham Split in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ockham Split 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Ockham Split
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ockham Split does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Ockham Split is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ockham Split 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ockham Split vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ockham Split is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement, is just above the industry average. Ockham Split 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ockham Split 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. Ockham Split 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ockham Split is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Ockham Split needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ockham Split to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Ockham Split 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ockham Split 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 - Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ockham Split products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ockham Split needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement, in the dynamic environment Ockham Split has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ockham Split has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement | 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ockham Split 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ockham Split can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ockham Split is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ockham Split can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ockham Split 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ockham Split in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Ockham Split can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ockham Split 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ockham Split to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Ockham Split can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ockham Split can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ockham Split to increase its market reach. Ockham Split 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ockham Split 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, Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ockham Split 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.
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 Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ockham Split 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 Ockham Split with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Ockham Split 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.
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 Ockham Split in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Ockham Split 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. Ockham Split can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement, Ockham Split may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ockham Split can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ockham Split in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ockham Split 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Slicing Pie with a Razor: Ockham Technologies' Founding Agreement 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 Ockham Split needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
