Guide to the U.S. President's Administration SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Guide to the U.S. President's Administration
This is a Darden case study.This note provides a guide to dealing with the President's administration from the perspective of the nuclear energy industry.
Swot Analysis of "Guide to the U.S. President's Administration" written by Thomas Cross includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that President's Guide facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Guide to the U.S. President's Administration casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Guide to the U.S. President's Administration
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the President's Guide, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which President's Guide 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of President's Guide
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 President's Guide
Strengths Guide to the U.S. President's Administration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of President's Guide in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of President's Guide
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that President's Guide does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Guide to the U.S. President's Administration firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled President's Guide to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped President's Guide to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of President's Guide in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For President's Guide digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. President's Guide 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.
High brand equity
– President's Guide has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled President's Guide to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– President's Guide 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– President's Guide has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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
– President's Guide is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– President's Guide 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 President's Guide in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of President's Guide in the sector have low bargaining power. Guide to the U.S. President's Administration has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps President's Guide to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– President's Guide 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 Thomas Cross 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.
Learning organization
- President's Guide 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 President's Guide is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Guide to the U.S. President's Administration Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Guide to the U.S. President's Administration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Guide to the U.S. President's Administration are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of President's Guide is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. President's Guide needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help President's Guide to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 President's Guide supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Guide to the U.S. President's Administration, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left President's Guide vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of President's Guide products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, President's Guide needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas Cross suggests that, President's Guide is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– President's Guide 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 President's Guide 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as President's Guide is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, President's Guide 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. President's Guide even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, President's Guide is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of President's Guide, firm in the HBR case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Guide to the U.S. President's Administration | 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for President's Guide 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for President's Guide 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 President's Guide to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at President's Guide 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for President's Guide 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– President's Guide 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help President's Guide to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. President's Guide 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. President's Guide 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– President's Guide 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, President's Guide is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– President's Guide 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.
Buying journey improvements
– President's Guide can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, President's Guide 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, Guide to the U.S. President's Administration, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, President's Guide 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, President's Guide can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that President's Guide operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Guide to the U.S. President's Administration External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Guide to the U.S. President's Administration are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– President's Guide 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on President's Guide 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents President's Guide with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. President's Guide 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
– President's Guide has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, President's Guide 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.
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 President's Guide.
Environmental challenges
– President's Guide 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. President's Guide can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
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 President's Guide business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. President's Guide 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.
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. President's Guide 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration, President's Guide 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– President's Guide 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 Guide to the U.S. President's Administration 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 President's Guide needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.