Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation
Most firms struggle to adapt to discontinuous changes in their environment--witness Lego's very slow adaptation to the world of digital devices and online games. One key reason for this is that they get locked into established networks of relationships and struggle to break out of these relationships and establish new ones. Examines the approaches firms can use to build relationships with new prospective partners that are more suited to the opportunities and threats they face in new competitive environments. Identifies the key barriers that prevent firms from accessing these "networks for discontinuous innovation" and presents specific strategies that firms can adopt to overcome them. The challenge involves three steps: finding the right partners to engage with, forming relationships with them, and then building high-performing networks. By following the guidelines proposed, firms will be more likely to create high-performing networks for discontinuous innovation.
Authors :: Julian Birkinshaw, John Bessant, Rick Delbridge
Swot Analysis of "Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation" written by Julian Birkinshaw, John Bessant, Rick Delbridge includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Discontinuous Networks facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Networking and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Discontinuous Networks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Discontinuous Networks 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Discontinuous Networks
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 Discontinuous Networks
Strengths Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Discontinuous Networks in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Discontinuous Networks is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Discontinuous Networks 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Discontinuous Networks in the sector have low bargaining power. Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Discontinuous Networks to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Discontinuous Networks has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Discontinuous Networks to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Discontinuous Networks is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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
– Discontinuous Networks 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 Discontinuous Networks in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Discontinuous Networks 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Discontinuous Networks
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Discontinuous Networks does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Discontinuous Networks 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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.
Learning organization
- Discontinuous Networks 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 Discontinuous Networks is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Discontinuous Networks digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Discontinuous Networks 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.
Weaknesses Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Discontinuous Networks has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Discontinuous Networks is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Discontinuous Networks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Discontinuous Networks 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 - Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation, is just above the industry average. Discontinuous Networks 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Discontinuous Networks 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. Discontinuous Networks 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Discontinuous Networks, firm in the HBR case study Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Discontinuous Networks 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Discontinuous Networks 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 Discontinuous Networks supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Discontinuous Networks vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation, 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation | 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation are -
Buying journey improvements
– Discontinuous Networks can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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. Discontinuous Networks 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. Discontinuous Networks 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Discontinuous Networks 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, Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation, 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
– Discontinuous Networks 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Discontinuous Networks 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Discontinuous Networks is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Discontinuous Networks can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Discontinuous Networks 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Discontinuous Networks 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 Discontinuous Networks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Discontinuous Networks has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Discontinuous Networks to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation case study. Discontinuous Networks can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Discontinuous Networks 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Discontinuous Networks to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Discontinuous Networks in the consumer business. Now Discontinuous Networks 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 Discontinuous Networks 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.
Threats Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation are -
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.
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. Discontinuous Networks 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.
Increasing wage structure of Discontinuous Networks
– 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 Discontinuous Networks.
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. Discontinuous Networks needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Discontinuous Networks 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Discontinuous Networks 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.
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. Discontinuous Networks can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Discontinuous Networks business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Discontinuous Networks high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Discontinuous Networks.
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 Discontinuous Networks in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Discontinuous Networks demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Discontinuous Networks 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Finding, Forming, and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation 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 Discontinuous Networks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.