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Valerie Morgan SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Valerie Morgan


Presents interviews and conversations with a woman who recently started a publishing house. Primarily concerns her immediate future regarding harvesting options: IPO, sell out, step up to chairman, venture capital, etc. Also deals with the excitement and thrill of having your own business dream; i.e., the thrill of doing.

Authors :: Howard H. Stevenson, James Z. Turner

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: Entrepreneurship, Financial management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Valerie Morgan" written by Howard H. Stevenson, James Z. Turner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Thrill Valerie facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Valerie Morgan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Financial management and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Valerie Morgan casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Valerie Morgan


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Valerie Morgan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Thrill Valerie, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Thrill Valerie 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 Valerie Morgan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Valerie Morgan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Thrill Valerie
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 Thrill Valerie




Strengths Valerie Morgan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Thrill Valerie in Valerie Morgan Harvard Business Review case study are -

Diverse revenue streams

– Thrill Valerie is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Valerie Morgan 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Thrill Valerie is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Valerie Morgan Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Learning organization

- Thrill Valerie 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 Thrill Valerie is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Valerie Morgan Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– Valerie Morgan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Thrill Valerie to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Thrill Valerie to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Thrill Valerie has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Thrill Valerie 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Thrill Valerie 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Thrill Valerie 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 Valerie Morgan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Thrill Valerie has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Thrill Valerie to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Thrill Valerie in the sector have low bargaining power. Valerie Morgan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Thrill Valerie to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Thrill Valerie is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Valerie Morgan 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 Thrill Valerie 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

– Thrill Valerie is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.






Weaknesses Valerie Morgan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Valerie Morgan are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Thrill Valerie 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Thrill Valerie 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Thrill Valerie 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 - Valerie Morgan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Thrill Valerie 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Valerie Morgan, in the dynamic environment Thrill Valerie has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Thrill Valerie has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Thrill Valerie is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Valerie Morgan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Howard H. Stevenson, James Z. Turner suggests that, Thrill Valerie 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Valerie Morgan 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 Thrill Valerie 's lucrative customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Thrill Valerie is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Thrill Valerie needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Thrill Valerie to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Valerie Morgan 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 Valerie Morgan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Thrill Valerie is planning to shift buying processes online.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Valerie Morgan HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Thrill Valerie has relatively successful track record of launching new products.




Opportunities Valerie Morgan | 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 Valerie Morgan are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Thrill Valerie 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Thrill Valerie 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 Valerie Morgan - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Thrill Valerie 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Thrill Valerie 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. Thrill Valerie 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 Thrill Valerie has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Thrill Valerie to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Valerie Morgan case study. Thrill Valerie can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Thrill Valerie can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Thrill Valerie operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Thrill Valerie 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, Valerie Morgan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Loyalty marketing

– Thrill Valerie 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.

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 Thrill Valerie in the consumer business. Now Thrill Valerie can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Thrill Valerie is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Valerie Morgan 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Thrill Valerie can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– Thrill Valerie 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Thrill Valerie 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Thrill Valerie 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 Thrill Valerie to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.




Threats Valerie Morgan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Valerie Morgan are -

Environmental challenges

– Thrill Valerie 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. Thrill Valerie can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.

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. Thrill Valerie needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Thrill Valerie can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Thrill Valerie with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

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 Thrill Valerie.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Thrill Valerie 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 Valerie Morgan .

Regulatory challenges

– Thrill Valerie 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Thrill Valerie 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 Thrill Valerie 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 Thrill Valerie in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Thrill Valerie 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Thrill Valerie 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Valerie Morgan 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 Valerie Morgan 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 Valerie Morgan 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 Valerie Morgan 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 Valerie Morgan 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 Thrill Valerie needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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