Case Study Description of Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owned a 168-year-old British tabloid, News of the World, which obtained its juiciest stories by illegally hacking the phones of many people, including actors, celebrities and prime ministers. Murdoch shut down the paper following the disclosure of the scandal. A Parliamentary investigation showed the phone hacking practice was widespread and supported at the top of the organization. Was this scandal a failure of governance by the board, or was it only a failure of management?
Swot Analysis of "Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation" written by Harold Weston includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hacking Murdoch's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hacking Murdoch's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hacking Murdoch's 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hacking Murdoch's
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 Hacking Murdoch's
Strengths Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hacking Murdoch's in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hacking Murdoch's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hacking Murdoch's in the sector have low bargaining power. Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hacking Murdoch's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hacking Murdoch's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Analytics focus
– Hacking Murdoch's 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 Harold Weston 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
- Hacking Murdoch's 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 Hacking Murdoch's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hacking Murdoch's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Hacking Murdoch's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hacking Murdoch's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hacking Murdoch's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Hacking Murdoch's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hacking Murdoch's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hacking Murdoch's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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
– Hacking Murdoch's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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.
Weaknesses Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, in the dynamic environment Hacking Murdoch's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hacking Murdoch's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Harold Weston suggests that, Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hacking Murdoch's 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 - Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, 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 Hacking Murdoch's, firm in the HBR case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hacking Murdoch's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Hacking Murdoch's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation HBR case study mentions - Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hacking Murdoch's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hacking Murdoch's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hacking Murdoch's 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. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is just above the industry average. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Opportunities Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation | 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation are -
Manufacturing automation
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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 Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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. Hacking Murdoch's 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. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hacking Murdoch's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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. Hacking Murdoch's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hacking Murdoch's to increase its market reach. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Hacking Murdoch's in the consumer business. Now Hacking Murdoch's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hacking Murdoch's 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hacking Murdoch's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation are -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Hacking Murdoch's 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. Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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 Hacking Murdoch's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hacking Murdoch's 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation .
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. Hacking Murdoch's 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 Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Hacking Murdoch's 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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. Hacking Murdoch's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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 Hacking Murdoch's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.