Swot Analysis of "Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A)" written by James L. Heskett, Tor Askild Aase Johannessen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carpenter Kenneth facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carpenter Kenneth, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carpenter Kenneth 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carpenter Kenneth
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Carpenter Kenneth
Strengths Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carpenter Kenneth in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Carpenter Kenneth is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Carpenter Kenneth is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Carpenter Kenneth in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Carpenter Kenneth is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Leadership & Managing People field
– Carpenter Kenneth 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 Carpenter Kenneth in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carpenter Kenneth to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carpenter Kenneth to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Carpenter Kenneth 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 Carpenter Kenneth is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Carpenter Kenneth in the sector have low bargaining power. Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Carpenter Kenneth to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Carpenter Kenneth is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by James L. Heskett, Tor Askild Aase Johannessen can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Carpenter Kenneth 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) - 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Carpenter Kenneth 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Carpenter Kenneth has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Carpenter Kenneth 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Carpenter Kenneth is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Carpenter Kenneth is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A), is just above the industry average. Carpenter Kenneth 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Carpenter Kenneth 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A), in the dynamic environment Carpenter Kenneth has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Carpenter Kenneth has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) HBR case study mentions - Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A), it seems that the employees of Carpenter Kenneth 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) | 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) are -
Loyalty marketing
– Carpenter Kenneth 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 Carpenter Kenneth in the consumer business. Now Carpenter Kenneth can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Carpenter Kenneth can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Carpenter Kenneth can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Carpenter Kenneth can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Carpenter Kenneth 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.
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 Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Carpenter Kenneth 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Carpenter Kenneth is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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
– Carpenter Kenneth 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carpenter Kenneth to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Carpenter Kenneth can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carpenter Kenneth can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) are -
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.
Environmental challenges
– Carpenter Kenneth 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. Carpenter Kenneth can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Carpenter Kenneth needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Carpenter Kenneth can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Carpenter Kenneth 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) .
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 Carpenter Kenneth in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Carpenter Kenneth 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.
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 Carpenter Kenneth business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Carpenter Kenneth with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Carpenter Kenneth in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Carpenter Kenneth 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A) 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 Carpenter Kenneth needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
