Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C)
"This is a case series featuring an A, B and C case. Robert Harvey, a business professor at a small university in Iowa, arranged for Hopwood Manufacturing Company to come to the campus to interview his students for internship and management-in-training positions, only to learn that the recruiters, Dave Maggert and Wendy Blair, appeared to be more interested in the appearances of the candidates than their qualifications. Harvey must now decide what action to take in response to the recruiters' discriminatory statements."
Swot Analysis of "Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C)" written by Timothy Ogden includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hopwood Recruiters facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Diversity, Labor, Leadership, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hopwood Recruiters, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hopwood Recruiters 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hopwood Recruiters
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 Hopwood Recruiters
Strengths Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hopwood Recruiters in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hopwood Recruiters 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hopwood Recruiters 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.
High brand equity
– Hopwood Recruiters has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hopwood Recruiters to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hopwood Recruiters is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Hopwood Recruiters is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Hopwood Recruiters 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 Timothy Ogden 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hopwood Recruiters in the sector have low bargaining power. Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hopwood Recruiters to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hopwood Recruiters to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hopwood Recruiters to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Hopwood Recruiters has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hopwood Recruiters 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hopwood Recruiters digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hopwood Recruiters has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hopwood Recruiters has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hopwood Recruiters is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C), in the dynamic environment Hopwood Recruiters has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hopwood Recruiters has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Hopwood Recruiters supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hopwood Recruiters vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hopwood Recruiters, firm in the HBR case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) HBR case study mentions - Hopwood Recruiters 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Recruiters has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C), it seems that the employees of Hopwood Recruiters 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Recruiters 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hopwood Recruiters 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Timothy Ogden suggests that, Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Opportunities Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) | 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hopwood Recruiters 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, Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hopwood Recruiters to increase its market reach. Hopwood Recruiters 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 Hopwood Recruiters has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hopwood Recruiters to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) case study. Hopwood Recruiters can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hopwood Recruiters can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hopwood Recruiters operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Hopwood Recruiters 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.
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. Hopwood Recruiters can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hopwood Recruiters can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hopwood Recruiters is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hopwood Recruiters 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.
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 Hopwood Recruiters in the consumer business. Now Hopwood Recruiters can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hopwood Recruiters 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.
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 Hopwood Recruiters business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hopwood Recruiters has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hopwood Recruiters 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.
Environmental challenges
– Hopwood Recruiters 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. Hopwood Recruiters can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hopwood Recruiters 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.
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. Hopwood Recruiters 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.
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. Hopwood Recruiters 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, Hopwood Recruiters 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) .
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 Hopwood Recruiters.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hopwood Recruiters is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Hopwood Recruiters in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C), Hopwood Recruiters 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Manufacturing: Seeking to Hire the Best and the Brightest, or Not (C) 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 Hopwood Recruiters needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.