MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning
MentorMob had sprung from the passions-for web development and for online communities-of the company's co-founders, Kris Chinosorn (CEO) and Vince Leung (COO). The company pursued the ambitious goals of reinventing the way people learn and becoming the world's utility for learning about anything. The website leveraged a crowdsourcing model for information sharing, teaching, and learning. By enabling participants to learn-and to crowdsource from each other while learning-the site sought to both engage users at different stages of learning and to develop a compelling experience unobtainable without a crowd. Chinosorn and Leung needed to prioritize in order to achieve the growth and scale needed to become world's utility for learning. What should they do next to keep MentorMob's growth on track? What issues should get their greatest attention?
Swot Analysis of "MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning" written by Shane Greenstein, Josh Polhans, Micheline Sabatte includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Learning Chinosorn facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Innovation, IT, Social platforms, Strategic planning and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Learning Chinosorn, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Learning Chinosorn
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 Learning Chinosorn
Strengths MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Learning Chinosorn in MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Learning Chinosorn has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Learning Chinosorn to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Learning Chinosorn digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Learning Chinosorn has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Learning Chinosorn 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 Learning Chinosorn in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Learning Chinosorn is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Learning Chinosorn 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
– Learning Chinosorn 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 Shane Greenstein, Josh Polhans, Micheline Sabatte 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Learning Chinosorn 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.
Learning organization
- Learning Chinosorn 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 Learning Chinosorn is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Learning Chinosorn has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Learning Chinosorn 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Learning Chinosorn in the sector have low bargaining power. MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Learning Chinosorn to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Learning Chinosorn 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Learning Chinosorn is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Learning Chinosorn 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Learning Chinosorn is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Learning Chinosorn needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Learning Chinosorn to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Shane Greenstein, Josh Polhans, Micheline Sabatte suggests that, Learning Chinosorn 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Learning Chinosorn 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 Learning Chinosorn 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning, is just above the industry average. Learning Chinosorn 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Learning Chinosorn, firm in the HBR case study MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning, in the dynamic environment Learning Chinosorn has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Learning Chinosorn has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning | 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning are -
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. Learning Chinosorn can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Learning Chinosorn 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. Learning Chinosorn 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.
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 Learning Chinosorn 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Learning Chinosorn 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Learning Chinosorn 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Learning Chinosorn to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Learning Chinosorn 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Learning Chinosorn 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, MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Learning Chinosorn 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Learning Chinosorn 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Learning Chinosorn can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Learning Chinosorn 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Learning Chinosorn can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning are -
Regulatory challenges
– Learning Chinosorn 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning, Learning Chinosorn 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Learning Chinosorn 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Learning Chinosorn 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.
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 Learning Chinosorn.
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. Learning Chinosorn 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.
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 Learning Chinosorn 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 Learning Chinosorn business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Learning Chinosorn has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Learning Chinosorn 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
– Learning Chinosorn 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Learning Chinosorn with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 MentorMob and the Reinvention of Learning 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 Learning Chinosorn needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.