Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A)
Presents a classic dilemma in legal ethics--the conflict between an attorney's obligations as an attorney, in this case to protect a client's confidentiality, and his or her own moral obligations as a person. An attorney must decide how to respond to the father of a missing young woman who has asked for information about her whereabouts. The attorney knows from conversations with his client that the young woman is dead and where her body is. Shows students what role-related obligations are, why they have strong moral claims, and the difficult dilemmas role obligations can create.
Swot Analysis of "Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A)" written by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr., Ellen West includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Obligations Attorney facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, Ethics, Psychology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Obligations Attorney, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Obligations Attorney 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Obligations Attorney
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 Obligations Attorney
Strengths Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Obligations Attorney in Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Obligations Attorney is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Obligations Attorney 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 Obligations Attorney in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Obligations Attorney in the sector have low bargaining power. Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Obligations Attorney to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Obligations Attorney 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Obligations Attorney 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 Obligations Attorney is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Obligations Attorney 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Obligations Attorney digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Obligations Attorney 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Obligations Attorney is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Obligations Attorney to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Obligations Attorney to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Obligations Attorney
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Obligations Attorney does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Obligations Attorney has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Obligations Attorney to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) are -
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 Obligations Attorney supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Obligations Attorney vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Obligations Attorney is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A), 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Obligations Attorney 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Obligations Attorney is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Obligations Attorney needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Obligations Attorney to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Obligations Attorney 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Obligations Attorney needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Obligations Attorney 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Obligations Attorney 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 - Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) HBR case study mentions - Obligations Attorney 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A), in the dynamic environment Obligations Attorney has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Obligations Attorney has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) | 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Obligations Attorney has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Obligations Attorney to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) case study. Obligations Attorney can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Obligations Attorney 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Obligations Attorney 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
– Obligations Attorney can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Obligations Attorney 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.
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 Obligations Attorney in the consumer business. Now Obligations Attorney can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Obligations Attorney 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Obligations Attorney to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Obligations Attorney can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Obligations Attorney can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Obligations Attorney is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Obligations Attorney 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.
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. Obligations Attorney can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Obligations Attorney 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.
Threats Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Obligations Attorney 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 Obligations Attorney.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Obligations Attorney has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Obligations Attorney 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.
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. Obligations Attorney can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Obligations Attorney in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Obligations Attorney is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A), Obligations Attorney 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 .
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 Obligations Attorney business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Obligations Attorney 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Obligations Attorney 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 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. Obligations Attorney needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Obligations Attorney 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A) 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 Obligations Attorney needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
