Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example
Professor Jeffrey Moran needed to decide how to respond to the aftermath from the previous day's heated discussion of affirmative action in his Social Responsibility and Business Ethics class. He felt the emotions that erupted provided a "teachable moment" and that the class ended well. However, one African-American student later complained via e-mail that she felt disrespected in the discussion and did not feel that the topic was adequately portrayed. Dissatisfied with waiting for his response to her e-mail, the student called the department chair to complain. The department chair expects Moran to handle the situation.
Swot Analysis of "Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example" written by Deborah R. Ettington includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Moran Affirmative facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business law, Conflict, Diversity, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Moran Affirmative, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Moran Affirmative 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Moran Affirmative
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 Moran Affirmative
Strengths Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Moran Affirmative in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Moran Affirmative is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Moran Affirmative in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Moran Affirmative 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.
Training and development
– Moran Affirmative has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Moran Affirmative is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Moran Affirmative 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Moran Affirmative to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Moran Affirmative to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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.
High brand equity
– Moran Affirmative has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Moran Affirmative to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Moran Affirmative 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 Moran Affirmative in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Moran Affirmative 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Moran Affirmative in the sector have low bargaining power. Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Moran Affirmative to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example, 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Moran Affirmative 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example, is just above the industry average. Moran Affirmative 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Deborah R. Ettington suggests that, Moran Affirmative 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Moran Affirmative 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Moran Affirmative 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. Moran Affirmative 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example HBR case study mentions - Moran Affirmative 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Moran Affirmative products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Moran Affirmative needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example, in the dynamic environment Moran Affirmative has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Moran Affirmative has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Moran Affirmative is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Moran Affirmative 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example | 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Moran Affirmative 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Moran Affirmative 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, Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Moran Affirmative 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Moran Affirmative in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Moran Affirmative to increase its market reach. Moran Affirmative will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Manufacturing automation
– Moran Affirmative 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Moran Affirmative 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Moran Affirmative can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Moran Affirmative operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Moran Affirmative in the consumer business. Now Moran Affirmative can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Moran Affirmative can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Moran Affirmative 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 Moran Affirmative to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Moran Affirmative can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Moran Affirmative 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.
Threats Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Moran Affirmative is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Moran Affirmative business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Moran Affirmative 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.
Environmental challenges
– Moran Affirmative 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. Moran Affirmative can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Moran Affirmative 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 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. Moran Affirmative can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Moran Affirmative
– 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 Moran Affirmative.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Moran Affirmative 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Moran Affirmative 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Moran Affirmative has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Moran Affirmative needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Moran Affirmative 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Moran Affirmative needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
