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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, 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 -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Moran Affirmative digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Moran Affirmative 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.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Moran Affirmative 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Moran Affirmative is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Moran Affirmative
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Moran Affirmative does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 -
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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 Moran Affirmative has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Moran Affirmative 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.
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.
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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Moran Affirmative is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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 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.
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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Moran Affirmative, firm in the HBR case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 -
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Moran Affirmative can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Moran Affirmative 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Moran Affirmative 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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Moran Affirmative 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Moran Affirmative to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help 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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Moran Affirmative can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Moran Affirmative 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 Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example .
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Moran Affirmative 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Moran Affirmative needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Responding to a Heated Classroom Discussion: Affirmative Action Example, Moran Affirmative may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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.
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 Moran Affirmative.
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.
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.
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 Moran Affirmative in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.