From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem
In June 2016, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, wrestled with how to sustain Israel's strong innovation track record and the country's reputation as the 'startup nation.' Despite the economic miracle the country had wrought since its founding, he knew he could not be complacent. On the one hand, in 2015 Israeli start-ups raised record-breaking amounts of venture capital, and exits for the year totaled over $8 Billion. On the other hand, government expenditure on R&D had decreased and Israel's position in the Global Innovation Index had fallen. Several other indicators, such as achievement tests among elementary school students in math and science, painted a grim picture. Furthermore, in spite of the wealth created by many high-tech Israeli firms, socioeconomic gaps in the country had widened. A two-tier economy had formed. The long-term sustainability of the "innovation economy" was in doubt, as the sector faced increased competition from foreign innovation hubs, was being reshaped by the growth of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) locating R&D centers in Israel, and had to contend with a vexing shortage of human capital and low labor force participation among some groups. Netanyahu had to assess whether it was time to sound the alarm, and whether drastic and immediate measures were needed to right the innovation economy ship. Bibi mulled over which policies or interventions would best curb the erosion of Israel's competitive position as an innovation powerhouse and how best to promote social equality. He pondered whether public policy could make a difference or whether the market and societal currents, responsible for these trends, were too strong for him and his government to try to contend with. Several prominent figures, including the Governor of the Central Bank of Israel, Knesset members, Israel's Chief Scientist, prominent business leaders, academics, and journalists weigh in on the formation of the Israeli entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem, the challenges it faces going forward, and what approaches might help it continue to thrive.
Authors :: Elie Ofek, Margot Eiran
Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Tags :: Economy, Global strategy, Globalization, Government, Research & development, Venture capital, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem" written by Elie Ofek, Margot Eiran includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Israel's Israeli facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Global strategy, Globalization, Government, Research & development, Venture capital and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Israel's Israeli, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Israel's Israeli 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Israel's Israeli
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 Israel's Israeli
Strengths From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Israel's Israeli in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Israel's Israeli is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Israel's Israeli 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Israel's Israeli 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 Israel's Israeli is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Israel's Israeli has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Israel's Israeli to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Israel's Israeli 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Israel's Israeli digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Israel's Israeli 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Israel's Israeli in the sector have low bargaining power. From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Israel's Israeli to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Israel's Israeli has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 Israel's Israeli 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Israel's Israeli 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.
Organizational Resilience of Israel's Israeli
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Israel's Israeli does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Israel's Israeli is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem are -
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 Israel's Israeli supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Israel's Israeli vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Israel's Israeli 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. Israel's Israeli 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Israel's Israeli 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Israel's Israeli is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Israel's Israeli needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Israel's Israeli to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Israel's Israeli 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 Israel's Israeli 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem, it seems that the employees of Israel's Israeli don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem HBR case study mentions - Israel's Israeli 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Israel's Israeli 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Israel's Israeli 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.
Opportunities From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem | 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Israel's Israeli 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Israel's Israeli to increase its market reach. Israel's Israeli 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.
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. Israel's Israeli can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Israel's Israeli 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, From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Israel's Israeli 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Israel's Israeli 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
– Israel's Israeli has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Israel's Israeli in the consumer business. Now Israel's Israeli can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Israel's Israeli 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Israel's Israeli 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.
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 Israel's Israeli 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Israel's Israeli can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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.
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. Israel's Israeli 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. Israel's Israeli 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.
Threats From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem are -
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 Israel's Israeli business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Israel's Israeli can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem, Israel's Israeli 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Israel's Israeli has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Israel's Israeli 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.
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 Israel's Israeli.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Israel's Israeli 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Israel's Israeli 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Israel's Israeli is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Israel's Israeli needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Israel's Israeli 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.
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 Israel's Israeli in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Israel's Israeli 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem 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 Israel's Israeli needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
