Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal
This is a Darden case study.What happens when strained relationships develop between two people you value in your organization and they come to you for advice? David Walker was a senior attorney in a bustling white shoe law practice. During an especially busy time, Walker became party to an in-office dispute between his trusted administrative assistant, Susan Emson, and a respected colleague, Ramya Kumar. He had spent numerous hours listening to both sides tell their stories and was left with an impending sense that he had no answers. How was he ever going to help two people he valued greatly work out a compromise between their extremely polar positions? How did the dispute get to such a point? The case provides opportunities to explore the sources of interpersonal conflict, causes of escalation, and ways of diffusing and resolving it.
Swot Analysis of "Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal" written by Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Walker Dispute facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Conflict, Diversity, Leading teams, Personnel policies and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Walker Dispute, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Walker Dispute 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Walker Dispute
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 Walker Dispute
Strengths Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Walker Dispute in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Walker Dispute 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 Walker Dispute is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Walker Dispute to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Walker Dispute to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Walker Dispute 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.
Organizational Resilience of Walker Dispute
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Walker Dispute does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Walker Dispute is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Walker Dispute is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Walker Dispute 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 Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Walker Dispute has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Walker Dispute has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Walker Dispute 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Walker Dispute digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Walker Dispute 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Walker Dispute in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Walker Dispute 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Walker Dispute has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Walker Dispute 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Walker Dispute is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal, 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 Walker Dispute, firm in the HBR case study Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen suggests that, Walker Dispute 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Walker Dispute 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Walker Dispute 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Walker Dispute 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Walker Dispute is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal | 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal are -
Manufacturing automation
– Walker Dispute 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Walker Dispute can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Walker Dispute has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Walker Dispute to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal case study. Walker Dispute can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Walker Dispute can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Walker Dispute 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Walker Dispute 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Walker Dispute 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 Walker Dispute to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Walker Dispute 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Walker Dispute can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Walker Dispute operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Walker Dispute 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. Walker Dispute 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.
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. Walker Dispute can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Walker Dispute 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Walker Dispute 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, Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Walker Dispute with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Walker Dispute.
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 Walker Dispute business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Walker Dispute 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Walker Dispute 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Walker Dispute 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Walker Dispute has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Walker Dispute 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Walker Dispute 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Walker Dispute is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Walker Dispute 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.
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. Walker Dispute 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.
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 Walker Dispute in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Walker Dispute 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. Walker Dispute can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Finder, Minder & Grinder: The Charges and Rebuttal 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 Walker Dispute needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.