Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership
Larry Smarr, the founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), reflects on the Institute's past 10 years of successes and challenges. In 2010, more than 700 university scientists, artists, engineers, and social scientists and over 300 non-university partners are associated with the Institute. Innovative and multi-disciplinary research projects are being carried out in diverse fields such as environmental monitoring, human/robotic communication, digital archaeology, nanotechnology, life sciences, information technology, and telecommunications. Calit2 was one of four new research initiatives created in 2000 in a partnership between the State of California, the University of California, and California industry in order to foster and drive entrepreneurial business growth and expand the California economy into new industries and markets. Calit2 was the result of a partnership between both the University of California, San Diego and University of California, Irvine. As Calit2's first decade comes to a close, Smarr considers the future of the Institute and, in particular, its leadership and sustainability.
Authors :: Linda A. Hill, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Swot Analysis of "Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership" written by Linda A. Hill, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Calit2 California facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Strategic planning, Sustainability, Talent management, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Calit2 California, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Calit2 California 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Calit2 California
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 Calit2 California
Strengths Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Calit2 California in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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
– Calit2 California has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Calit2 California to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Calit2 California 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Calit2 California is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Calit2 California is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Calit2 California is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Calit2 California in the sector have low bargaining power. Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Calit2 California to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Calit2 California digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Calit2 California 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.
Learning organization
- Calit2 California 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 Calit2 California is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Calit2 California has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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
– Calit2 California is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Calit2 California to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Calit2 California to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Calit2 California is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Calit2 California 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership, in the dynamic environment Calit2 California has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Calit2 California 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
– Calit2 California 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Linda A. Hill, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld suggests that, Calit2 California 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Calit2 California 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2 California 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Calit2 California 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 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 Calit2 California supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Calit2 California vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Calit2 California, firm in the HBR case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Calit2 California 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.
Opportunities Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership | 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Calit2 California 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Calit2 California is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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.
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. Calit2 California can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Calit2 California can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Calit2 California operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Calit2 California 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, Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Calit2 California 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Calit2 California 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. Calit2 California 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Calit2 California 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Calit2 California 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Calit2 California to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Calit2 California 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 Calit2 California to increase its market reach. Calit2 California 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Calit2 California has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Calit2 California to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership case study. Calit2 California can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Calit2 California 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.
Threats Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership are -
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. Calit2 California needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Calit2 California 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Calit2 California 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.
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 Calit2 California business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership, Calit2 California 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Calit2 California
– 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 Calit2 California.
Environmental challenges
– Calit2 California 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. Calit2 California can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Calit2 California 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.
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. Calit2 California 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, Calit2 California 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Calit2 California 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
– Calit2 California 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Calit2 California 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2: A UC San Diego, UC Irvine Partnership 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 Calit2 California needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
