MBA In Jeopardy (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of MBA In Jeopardy (A)
The Community Standards Panel of Harvard Business School must determine whether two students have violated the school's community standards, and if so, what sanction would be appropriate. Concerns allegations of plagiarism. In a second-year elective course, two students submitted a joint paper, substantial portions of which were taken nearly verbatim from their sources. The material was not footnoted. However, the sources were listed in the bibliography provided at the end of the paper. The students, who are not from the United States, claim that they followed the citation practices customary in their home country.
Swot Analysis of "MBA In Jeopardy (A)" written by Lynn Sharp Paine, HBS Students includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Footnoted Paper facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MBA In Jeopardy (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Ethics, Intellectual property and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MBA In Jeopardy (A) casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MBA In Jeopardy (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MBA In Jeopardy (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Footnoted Paper, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Footnoted Paper 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 MBA In Jeopardy (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MBA In Jeopardy (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Footnoted Paper
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 Footnoted Paper
Strengths MBA In Jeopardy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Footnoted Paper in MBA In Jeopardy (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Footnoted Paper 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Footnoted Paper 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 Footnoted Paper in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Footnoted Paper is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in MBA In Jeopardy (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Footnoted Paper 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 Lynn Sharp Paine, HBS Students 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.
Organizational Resilience of Footnoted Paper
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Footnoted Paper does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Footnoted Paper is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Footnoted Paper has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Footnoted Paper to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Footnoted Paper is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the MBA In Jeopardy (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Footnoted Paper has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MBA In Jeopardy (A) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the MBA In Jeopardy (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Footnoted Paper in the sector have low bargaining power. MBA In Jeopardy (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Footnoted Paper to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Footnoted Paper in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses MBA In Jeopardy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MBA In Jeopardy (A) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Footnoted Paper, firm in the HBR case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case MBA In Jeopardy (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Footnoted Paper is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study MBA In Jeopardy (A), it seems that the employees of Footnoted Paper 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Footnoted Paper 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 MBA In Jeopardy (A) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Footnoted Paper 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MBA In Jeopardy (A), is just above the industry average. Footnoted Paper 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Footnoted Paper 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. Footnoted Paper 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynn Sharp Paine, HBS Students suggests that, Footnoted Paper 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Footnoted Paper is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Footnoted Paper needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Footnoted Paper to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Footnoted Paper has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - MBA In Jeopardy (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Footnoted Paper 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.
Opportunities MBA In Jeopardy (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Footnoted Paper 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 MBA In Jeopardy (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Footnoted Paper to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Footnoted Paper 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
– Footnoted Paper can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. MBA In Jeopardy (A) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Footnoted Paper 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Footnoted Paper can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Footnoted Paper 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Footnoted Paper 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Footnoted Paper 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Footnoted Paper has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Footnoted Paper to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MBA In Jeopardy (A) case study. Footnoted Paper can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Footnoted Paper 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.
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. Footnoted Paper can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Footnoted Paper to increase its market reach. Footnoted Paper 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Footnoted Paper 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.
Threats MBA In Jeopardy (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) 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. Footnoted Paper needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study MBA In Jeopardy (A), Footnoted Paper 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Footnoted Paper is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Footnoted Paper 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 MBA In Jeopardy (A) .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Footnoted Paper demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Footnoted Paper business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Footnoted Paper with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Footnoted Paper
– 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 Footnoted Paper.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Footnoted Paper 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
– Footnoted Paper 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. Footnoted Paper can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Footnoted Paper.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MBA In Jeopardy (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study MBA In Jeopardy (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of MBA In Jeopardy (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Footnoted Paper needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.