Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs
The case tells the story of a product manager within Intuit who develops an idea for a new product that spans two of the company's existing business units-professional tax software, sold to accountants, and the consumer focused TurboTax product. The new product -TurboTax Personal Pro-connects consumers with professional accountants online, allowing them to have their taxes prepared by a professional. The cycle of product development transpires within the larger, corporate context of Intuit, where founder Scott Cook has been attempting to transform the enterprise into a leaner, more innovative company. The case describes in detail the lean startup methods used by the new product team, and how their attempts bump up against the existing, entrenched systems and processes of the larger enterprise.
Authors :: Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller, Michael Roberts
Swot Analysis of "Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs" written by Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller, Michael Roberts includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intuit Turbotax facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management, Product development, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intuit Turbotax, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intuit Turbotax
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 Intuit Turbotax
Strengths Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intuit Turbotax in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Intuit Turbotax is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Intuit Turbotax has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Intuit Turbotax is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit Turbotax in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit Turbotax 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Intuit Turbotax 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intuit Turbotax to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intuit Turbotax to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intuit Turbotax has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intuit Turbotax 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intuit Turbotax is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Intuit Turbotax is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Intuit Turbotax has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Intuit Turbotax 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, it seems that the employees of Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs HBR case study mentions - Intuit Turbotax 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.
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 Intuit Turbotax supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intuit Turbotax vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller, Michael Roberts suggests that, Intuit Turbotax 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
Intuit Turbotax 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, in the dynamic environment Intuit Turbotax has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Intuit Turbotax has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, is just above the industry average. Intuit Turbotax 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Intuit Turbotax has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs | 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Intuit Turbotax 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit Turbotax to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intuit Turbotax has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Intuit Turbotax to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs case study. Intuit Turbotax can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intuit Turbotax 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, Intuit Turbotax can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Intuit Turbotax operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intuit Turbotax 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, Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Intuit Turbotax 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.
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. Intuit Turbotax can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intuit Turbotax 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Intuit Turbotax 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Intuit Turbotax to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Intuit Turbotax 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.
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. Intuit Turbotax can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Intuit Turbotax 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.
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 Intuit Turbotax business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Intuit Turbotax with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Intuit Turbotax 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 Intuit Turbotax.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs, Intuit Turbotax 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Intuit Turbotax 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. Intuit Turbotax can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Intuit Turbotax is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intuit Turbotax has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intuit Turbotax 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Intuit Turbotax 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.
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. Intuit Turbotax needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intuit Turbotax 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs 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 Intuit Turbotax needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.