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 - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Family Cousin in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Family Cousin are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Family Cousin is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Family Cousin is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Family Cousin is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners HBR case study mentions - Family Cousin 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Family Cousin has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners, it seems that the employees of Family Cousin 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Family Cousin 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 - Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Family Cousin 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Family Cousin 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Family Cousin to increase its market reach. Family Cousin 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.
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.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Family Cousin 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.
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 -
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Family Cousin 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 Scott Family Enterprises (A): Defining Fair Process for Cousin Owners .
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.
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.
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 Family Cousin.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Family Cousin 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 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.
Increasing wage structure of Family Cousin
– 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 Family Cousin.
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Family Cousin 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.
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.