Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal
Case #5 in the Jack Wright series provides for the discussion of issues relating to succession planning for the CEO, their selection and appointment, and the subsequent appraisal of their performance. These activities are among the most crucial that boards have to face, and directly impact the long-term performance of the company.
Swot Analysis of "Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal" written by John L. Colley, Wallace Stettinius includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wright Appraisal facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Compensation, Financial management, Labor, Operations management, Regulation and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wright Appraisal, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wright Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wright Appraisal
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Wright Appraisal
Strengths Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wright Appraisal in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Wright Appraisal is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wright Appraisal 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.
Analytics focus
– Wright Appraisal 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 John L. Colley, Wallace Stettinius 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.
High brand equity
– Wright Appraisal has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wright Appraisal to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wright Appraisal in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Wright Appraisal has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wright Appraisal 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
– Wright Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wright Appraisal to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wright Appraisal to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Wright Appraisal is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wright Appraisal is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Wright Appraisal 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 Wright Appraisal in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal are -
Need for greater diversity
– Wright Appraisal 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Wright Appraisal, firm in the HBR case study Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wright Appraisal 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wright Appraisal is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wright Appraisal 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 Wright Appraisal supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wright Appraisal vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal, is just above the industry average. Wright Appraisal 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal HBR case study mentions - Wright Appraisal 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wright Appraisal 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John L. Colley, Wallace Stettinius suggests that, Wright Appraisal 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Wright Appraisal 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. Wright Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal | 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Wright Appraisal 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wright Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wright Appraisal to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Wright Appraisal can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Wright Appraisal can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Finance & Accounting segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wright Appraisal to increase its market reach. Wright Appraisal 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Wright Appraisal 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. Wright Appraisal 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Wright Appraisal is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wright Appraisal 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, Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wright Appraisal 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 Wright Appraisal to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wright Appraisal 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wright Appraisal can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wright Appraisal operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Wright Appraisal can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Wright Appraisal in the consumer business. Now Wright Appraisal can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wright Appraisal can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Wright Appraisal.
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.
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 Wright Appraisal in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wright Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wright Appraisal has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wright Appraisal needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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 Wright Appraisal
– 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 Wright Appraisal.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wright Appraisal 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 Wright Appraisal with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wright Appraisal is facing in Finance & Accounting 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. Wright Appraisal 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. Wright Appraisal needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Wright Appraisal 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. Wright Appraisal can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Corporate Governance: The Jack Wright Series #5-CEO Succession Planning, Selection, and Performance Appraisal 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 Wright Appraisal needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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