Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle
This case follows an entrepreneur through the process of sourcing a potential acquisition, valuing a company, and securing the funding to purchase the company. This entrepreneur must decide if he should close the deal and which financing term sheet to accept.
Swot Analysis of "Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle" written by Steven Rogers, Greg White includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Earl Entrepreneur facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Costs, Entrepreneurial finance, Financial analysis, Forecasting, Growth strategy, Manufacturing, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Earl Entrepreneur, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Earl Entrepreneur
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 Earl Entrepreneur
Strengths Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Earl Entrepreneur in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Entrepreneur is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Earl Entrepreneur in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Earl Entrepreneur digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Training and development
– Earl Entrepreneur has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Earl Entrepreneur is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Earl Entrepreneur in the sector have low bargaining power. Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Earl Entrepreneur to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Earl Entrepreneur is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Earl Entrepreneur has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Earl Entrepreneur is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 brand equity
– Earl Entrepreneur has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Earl Entrepreneur to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Earl Entrepreneur is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Earl Entrepreneur has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Weaknesses Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Entrepreneur has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Earl Entrepreneur is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Earl Entrepreneur is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Earl Entrepreneur needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Earl Entrepreneur to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Entrepreneur, firm in the HBR case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle, in the dynamic environment Earl Entrepreneur has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Earl Entrepreneur has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Earl Entrepreneur 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. Earl Entrepreneur 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.
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 Earl Entrepreneur supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Earl Entrepreneur vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle | 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle are -
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. Earl Entrepreneur 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. Earl Entrepreneur 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, Earl Entrepreneur is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Earl Entrepreneur to increase its market reach. Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Earl Entrepreneur to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Earl Entrepreneur can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Earl Entrepreneur in the consumer business. Now Earl Entrepreneur can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Earl Entrepreneur to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Earl Entrepreneur can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Earl Entrepreneur has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Earl Entrepreneur to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle case study. Earl Entrepreneur can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Earl Entrepreneur can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Earl Entrepreneur operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Threats Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle are -
Environmental challenges
– Earl Entrepreneur 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. Earl Entrepreneur can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Earl Entrepreneur 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle .
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Earl Entrepreneur
– 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 Earl Entrepreneur.
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. Earl Entrepreneur needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Earl Entrepreneur 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.
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 Earl Entrepreneur.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Earl Entrepreneur is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Earl Entrepreneur has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Earl Entrepreneur 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle 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 Earl Entrepreneur needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.