A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement
This historically-focused teaching note highlights the role of African American Labor Leaders in both the Labor Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. In doing so, it attempts to both highlight these noteworthy individuals, and demonstrate the innate connection between the labor and civil rights movements.
Swot Analysis of "A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement" written by Steven Rogers, Mercer Cook includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Labor Movement facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Compensation, Labor, Leadership, Social responsibility, Workspaces and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Labor Movement, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Labor Movement
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 Labor Movement
Strengths A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Labor Movement in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Labor Movement is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Labor Movement has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement 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.
Organizational Resilience of Labor Movement
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Labor Movement does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Labor Movement is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Labor Movement has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Labor Movement to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Labor Movement in the sector have low bargaining power. A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Labor Movement to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Labor Movement is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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.
Weaknesses A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Labor Movement 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.
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 Labor Movement supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Labor Movement vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Labor Movement, firm in the HBR case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Steven Rogers, Mercer Cook suggests that, Labor Movement 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Labor Movement products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Labor Movement needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Labor Movement is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Labor Movement 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Labor Movement 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. Labor Movement 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Labor Movement 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement, 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.
Opportunities A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement | 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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. Labor Movement can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Labor Movement 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.
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. Labor Movement 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. Labor Movement 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Labor Movement 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Labor Movement 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Labor Movement is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Labor Movement to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Labor Movement can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Labor Movement 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, A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Labor Movement can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Labor Movement can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Labor Movement operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Threats A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Labor Movement 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Labor Movement 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.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement .
Regulatory challenges
– Labor Movement 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Labor Movement is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Labor Movement with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Labor Movement.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Labor Movement 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.
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. Labor Movement needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Labor Movement
– 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 Labor Movement.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement, Labor Movement 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 A Brief History of African American Leaders in Unions and the Labor Movement 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 Labor Movement needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
