Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems
The case covers the use of partnerships by a business development group of Motorola to gain quick access to new, complementary technologies and highlights how Motorola manages collaborations with smaller, entrepreneurial firms. The case ends with questions about how Motorola will jockey for position in an ecosystem formed by its customer, BT. customer's ecosystem, which regrouped firms such as Vodafone, a mobile operator, and Ericsson and Alcatel, competitors in some of Motorola's markets.
Authors :: Hoang Ha Thi, Abigail Leland, Alan Wright
Swot Analysis of "Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems" written by Hoang Ha Thi, Abigail Leland, Alan Wright includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Motorola Ecosystem facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices,
there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Motorola Ecosystem, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Motorola Ecosystem
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 Motorola Ecosystem
Strengths Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Motorola Ecosystem in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Motorola Ecosystem is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Motorola Ecosystem 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
– Motorola Ecosystem has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Motorola Ecosystem to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Motorola Ecosystem is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Motorola Ecosystem in the sector have low bargaining power. Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Motorola Ecosystem to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Motorola Ecosystem is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Motorola Ecosystem
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Motorola Ecosystem does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Motorola Ecosystem has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Learning organization
- Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola Ecosystem is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Motorola Ecosystem in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems, in the dynamic environment Motorola Ecosystem has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Motorola Ecosystem has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Motorola Ecosystem is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Motorola Ecosystem is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Motorola Ecosystem needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Motorola Ecosystem to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems, is just above the industry average. Motorola Ecosystem 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Motorola Ecosystem is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Motorola Ecosystem 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hoang Ha Thi, Abigail Leland, Alan Wright suggests that, Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Motorola Ecosystem 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 - Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Motorola Ecosystem 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. Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Opportunities Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems | 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Motorola Ecosystem is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Motorola Ecosystem 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.
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. Motorola Ecosystem 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. Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Motorola Ecosystem can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Motorola Ecosystem operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Motorola Ecosystem has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Motorola Ecosystem to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems case study. Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola Ecosystem can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola Ecosystem to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Motorola Ecosystem to increase its market reach. Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Motorola Ecosystem 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, Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems, 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Motorola Ecosystem is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Motorola Ecosystem 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 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. Motorola Ecosystem needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Motorola Ecosystem 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems, Motorola Ecosystem 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 .
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 Motorola Ecosystem in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Motorola Ecosystem business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Motorola Ecosystem has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Motorola Ecosystem needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing wage structure of Motorola Ecosystem
– 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 Motorola Ecosystem.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Motorola Ecosystem with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Motorola Ecosystem 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems 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 Motorola Ecosystem needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.