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 - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, 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 -
Innovation driven organization
– Hacking Murdoch's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Hacking Murdoch's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hacking Murdoch's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hacking Murdoch's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hacking Murdoch's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hacking Murdoch's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hacking Murdoch's 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 Hacking Murdoch's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hacking Murdoch's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Hacking Murdoch's 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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.
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 -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hacking Murdoch's 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 Hacking Murdoch's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hacking Murdoch's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hacking Murdoch's 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, Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hacking Murdoch's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hacking Murdoch's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation 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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hacking Murdoch's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hacking Murdoch's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Phone Hacking and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation case study. Hacking Murdoch's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 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.
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 -
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 Hacking Murdoch's 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hacking Murdoch's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Hacking Murdoch's
– 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 Hacking Murdoch's.
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.
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 .
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hacking Murdoch's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hacking Murdoch's 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.
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.
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.
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.