Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionThe case explores the remarkable rise of Coach Teri McKeever to the top of a sport traditionally dominated by male coaches. Her success is driven by an unorthodox leadership and motivational style that emphasizes a growth mindset of self-improvement. She is an influential innovator, mentor, and trailblazer who challenged long entrenched methods of training and overcame criticisms and setbacks to change the face of swim training today. "Coach McKeever (A): Unorthodox Leadership Lessons From the Pool" examines McKeever's leadership philosophy and controversial motivational strategies that she uses to develop and sustain high-level performers. Case A is designed to elicit discussion about how McKeever's leadership and motivational strategies can be applied to organizations today and how managers can use similar tools to develop high-performing employees in their organizations.
Swot Analysis of "Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool" written by Holly Schroth includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mckeever Motivational facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Gender, Innovation, Leadership, Managing people, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mckeever Motivational, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mckeever Motivational
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 Mckeever Motivational
Strengths Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mckeever Motivational in Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mckeever Motivational 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 brand equity
– Mckeever Motivational has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mckeever Motivational to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mckeever Motivational 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Mckeever Motivational is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Holly Schroth 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mckeever Motivational is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mckeever Motivational has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mckeever Motivational 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Mckeever Motivational in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Mckeever Motivational is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mckeever Motivational in the sector have low bargaining power. Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mckeever Motivational to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool, is just above the industry average. Mckeever Motivational 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Mckeever Motivational has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mckeever Motivational products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mckeever Motivational needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Mckeever Motivational 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mckeever Motivational is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool, in the dynamic environment Mckeever Motivational has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mckeever Motivational has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mckeever Motivational is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mckeever Motivational 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Mckeever Motivational 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.
Opportunities Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool | 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool are -
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. Mckeever Motivational 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. Mckeever Motivational 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Mckeever Motivational in the consumer business. Now Mckeever Motivational can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mckeever Motivational to increase its market reach. Mckeever Motivational 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mckeever Motivational 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mckeever Motivational is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mckeever Motivational 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mckeever Motivational 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mckeever Motivational 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 Mckeever Motivational to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mckeever Motivational to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mckeever Motivational can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mckeever Motivational 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.
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. Mckeever Motivational can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool are -
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. Mckeever Motivational needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mckeever Motivational 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mckeever Motivational 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mckeever Motivational with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mckeever Motivational 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Mckeever Motivational 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.
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 Mckeever Motivational.
Environmental challenges
– Mckeever Motivational 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. Mckeever Motivational can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool, Mckeever Motivational 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mckeever Motivational 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mckeever Motivational 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Coach McKeever: Unorthodox Leadership Lessons from the Pool 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 Mckeever Motivational needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.