Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners
A large family business in banking and ranching is shifting leadership to the next generation and has developed a protocol to select board members by consensus. However, when the selection occurs, it is not made in accordance with the protocol, and a third-generation family member questions why the selection rules were changed by second-generation members without input or vote. Highlights the growing pains of developing fair processes and guidelines for nominating and selecting board members, meeting family expectations, communicating with constituents, and encouraging active roles in governance at the cousin-stage of a family business.
Swot Analysis of "Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners" written by John L. Ward, Canh Tran includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Family Cousin facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Family Cousin, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Family Cousin
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 Family Cousin
Strengths Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Family Cousin in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Family Cousin has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Family Cousin 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.
Learning organization
- Family Cousin 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 Family Cousin is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Family Cousin 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 Family Cousin in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Family Cousin has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Family Cousin to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Family Cousin digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Family Cousin 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.
Training and development
– Family Cousin has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Family Cousin in the sector have low bargaining power. Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Family Cousin to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Family Cousin has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Family Cousin 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 John L. Ward, Canh Tran 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 Family Cousin
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Family Cousin does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Family Cousin has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners, in the dynamic environment Family Cousin has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Family Cousin has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Family Cousin, firm in the HBR case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Family Cousin has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Family Cousin 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Family Cousin 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Family Cousin products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Family Cousin needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Family Cousin is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Family Cousin 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.
Opportunities Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners | 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Family Cousin 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Family Cousin can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Family Cousin operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Family Cousin 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Family Cousin can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Family Cousin 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 Family Cousin to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Family Cousin 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Family Cousin has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Family Cousin to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners case study. Family Cousin can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Family Cousin 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Family Cousin 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Family Cousin 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Family Cousin 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, Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Family Cousin can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Family Cousin 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. Family Cousin 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.
Threats Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Family Cousin 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Family Cousin is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Family Cousin 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Family Cousin has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Family Cousin 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.
Environmental challenges
– Family Cousin 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. Family Cousin can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners, Family Cousin 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 .
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.
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 Family Cousin business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Family Cousin can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Family Cousin 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.
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 Family Cousin in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Family Cousin with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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 Family Cousin needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
