Case Study Description of Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version
The law firm, Sloan & Harrison, was dealing with some discontent among its junior non-equity partners. These partners were concerned with the transparency of the advancement process, their ability to position themselves as both leaders within the firm and rainmakers, and the politics of promotion within the firm. The firm must find solutions to these challenges. Senior partners wondered: Was the path to partnership structured in the best interests of the firm? What could and should be done to address the non-equity partners' concerns? What were the ultimate effects of discontent within the NEP ranks upon the firm's functioning overall?
Swot Analysis of "Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version" written by Boris Groysberg, Eliot Sherman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Discontent Harrison facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Motivating people, Talent management, Work-life balance and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Discontent Harrison, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Discontent Harrison 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Discontent Harrison
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 Discontent Harrison
Strengths Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Discontent Harrison in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Discontent Harrison has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Discontent Harrison to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Discontent Harrison 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Discontent Harrison digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Discontent Harrison 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Discontent Harrison to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Discontent Harrison to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Discontent Harrison 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 Discontent Harrison is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Discontent Harrison has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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
– Discontent Harrison is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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.
Organizational Resilience of Discontent Harrison
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Discontent Harrison does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Discontent Harrison 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Discontent Harrison 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
– Discontent Harrison 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 Boris Groysberg, Eliot Sherman 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Discontent Harrison in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Discontent Harrison has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Discontent Harrison 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Boris Groysberg, Eliot Sherman suggests that, Discontent Harrison 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Discontent Harrison is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Discontent Harrison is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Discontent Harrison 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Discontent Harrison, firm in the HBR case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Discontent Harrison 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Discontent Harrison products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Discontent Harrison needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Discontent Harrison 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.
Opportunities Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version | 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version are -
Buying journey improvements
– Discontent Harrison can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Discontent Harrison 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, Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Discontent Harrison can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Discontent Harrison can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Discontent Harrison operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Discontent Harrison 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 Discontent Harrison to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Discontent Harrison to increase its market reach. Discontent Harrison 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.
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. Discontent Harrison 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 Discontent Harrison 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Discontent Harrison 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.
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 Discontent Harrison in the consumer business. Now Discontent Harrison can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Discontent Harrison 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, Discontent Harrison 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Discontent Harrison is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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.
Threats Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version, Discontent Harrison 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
– Discontent Harrison 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Discontent Harrison 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Discontent Harrison with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Discontent Harrison
– 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 Discontent Harrison.
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. Discontent Harrison can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Discontent Harrison 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. Discontent Harrison can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Discontent Harrison 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Discontent Harrison business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Discontent Harrison has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Discontent Harrison 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.
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.
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. Discontent Harrison 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent, Spanish Version 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 Discontent Harrison needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.