Details the career of Katharine Graham of the Washington Post Co., a pioneer in her field and one of the first high-profile women to lead a major public company. Her story is a unique example of how power and expertise are built over time, and differs from those of other business leaders in that she was unexpectedly thrust into a leadership position. Though Graham could have been a figurehead leader of the Washington Post Co., she gradually became a powerful national player: a publisher and CEO in more than title. Graham's strong values impel many of her decisions throughout the course of her career and help her through times of uncertainty. Her values are a stark contrast to strictly data-based decision making. Explores Graham's ability to master the newspaper business and succeed in a man's world. Additionally, Graham's unique ability to adapt her influence style in different social and career networks is also explored, as the distinction between Graham's employees, mentors, and friends is often blurred.
Authors :: Kathleen L. McGinn, Lisa Gunther, Dina Witter
Swot Analysis of "Katharine Graham" written by Kathleen L. McGinn, Lisa Gunther, Dina Witter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Graham's Graham facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Katharine Graham case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Influence, Leadership, Networking, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Katharine Graham casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Katharine Graham case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Graham's Graham, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Graham's Graham 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 Katharine Graham can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Katharine Graham case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Graham's Graham
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 Graham's Graham
Strengths Katharine Graham | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Graham's Graham in Katharine Graham Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Graham's Graham is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Katharine Graham 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Graham's Graham 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 Katharine Graham - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Graham's Graham 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 Graham's Graham is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Katharine Graham Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Graham's Graham
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Graham's Graham does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Graham's Graham 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 Graham's Graham in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Graham's Graham in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Graham's Graham is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Katharine Graham Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Graham's Graham is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Katharine Graham 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Katharine Graham firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Graham's Graham to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Graham's Graham to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Graham's Graham 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 Kathleen L. McGinn, Lisa Gunther, Dina Witter 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Graham's Graham 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 Katharine Graham HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Katharine Graham | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Katharine Graham are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Graham's Graham is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Graham's Graham needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Graham's Graham to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Katharine Graham 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 Graham's Graham has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Katharine Graham, it seems that the employees of Graham's Graham 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Graham's Graham 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Graham's Graham 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Katharine Graham HBR case study mentions - Graham's Graham 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Graham's Graham 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Katharine Graham 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 Katharine Graham can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Graham's Graham is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Graham's Graham products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Graham's Graham needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Katharine Graham 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 Graham's Graham 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Katharine Graham, 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.
Opportunities Katharine Graham | 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 Katharine Graham are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Graham's Graham can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Graham's Graham operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Graham's Graham can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Graham's Graham 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 Graham's Graham to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Graham's Graham 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.
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. Graham's Graham 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. Graham's Graham 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Graham's Graham 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, Katharine Graham, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Graham's Graham has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Graham's Graham to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Katharine Graham case study. Graham's Graham can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Graham's Graham 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.
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 Graham's Graham in the consumer business. Now Graham's Graham can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Graham's Graham 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Graham's Graham 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Graham's Graham 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Graham's Graham 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 Katharine Graham - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Graham's Graham to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Katharine Graham External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Katharine Graham 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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Graham's Graham needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Graham's Graham 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. Graham's Graham 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.
Increasing wage structure of Graham's Graham
– 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 Graham's Graham.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Graham's Graham 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Graham's Graham has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Graham's Graham needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Graham's Graham.
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 Graham's Graham 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 Graham's Graham with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Graham's Graham 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Graham's Graham 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 Katharine Graham .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Graham's Graham is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Katharine Graham 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 Katharine Graham 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 Katharine Graham 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 Katharine Graham 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 Katharine Graham 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 Graham's Graham needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
