Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Communication
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings
This technical note is a meta-analysis of some of the issues involving the management of virtual teams. Managing people who are geographically dispersed across time, space, and organizational boundaries requires team leaders who are able to communicate effectively and navigate interpersonal relationships. This requires an understanding of team dynamics, how to create a virtual team culture, and what works best when managing from a distance. The successful virtual tam leader knows what it takes to create and sustain high-performing teams, whether people are working in separate, remote locations or in the same corporate workplace.
Swot Analysis of "Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings" written by June West includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Virtual Teams facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Virtual Teams, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Virtual Teams 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Virtual Teams
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Virtual Teams
Strengths Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Virtual Teams in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Virtual Teams in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Virtual Teams 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Virtual Teams to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Virtual Teams to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Virtual Teams 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
– Virtual Teams 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 June West 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Virtual Teams is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Virtual Teams is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Virtual Teams 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 Virtual Teams is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Virtual Teams has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Virtual Teams 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Virtual Teams in the sector have low bargaining power. Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Virtual Teams to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Virtual Teams digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Virtual Teams 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.
Weaknesses Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Virtual Teams supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Virtual Teams vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Virtual Teams 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Virtual Teams 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 - Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Communication 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, in the dynamic environment Virtual Teams has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Virtual Teams has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings HBR case study mentions - Virtual Teams 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Virtual Teams, firm in the HBR case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Virtual Teams has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Virtual Teams even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Virtual Teams 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, is just above the industry average. Virtual Teams 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, June West suggests that, Virtual Teams 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.
Opportunities Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings | 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Virtual Teams 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, Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Virtual Teams 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 Virtual Teams 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 Virtual Teams to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Virtual Teams can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Virtual Teams can develop new processes and procedures in Communication 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Virtual Teams 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, Virtual Teams is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Virtual Teams can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Virtual Teams can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Virtual Teams 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. Virtual Teams 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Virtual Teams in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communication segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Virtual Teams 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Virtual Teams 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.
Threats Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Virtual Teams 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings .
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 Virtual Teams business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Virtual Teams 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. Virtual Teams can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
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 Virtual Teams.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Virtual Teams 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 Virtual Teams in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Virtual Teams is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Virtual Teams 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 Communication industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Virtual Teams 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Virtual Teams has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Virtual Teams needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings, Virtual Teams may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
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. Virtual Teams 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Managing Teams from a Distance: Making the Most of Virtual Meetings 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 Virtual Teams needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.