Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?
This article embarks on a road trip to NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, to take a close look at why cheating occurs within that organization. Two arguments drive the article, namely that NASCAR (1) may not be able to stop cheating particularly within the current context, and (2) might not want or be motivated to stop cheating. Obstacles complicating NASCAR's efforts to stop cheating include the long-standing culture of unethical behavior within stock car racing, and the inconsistent imposition of punishments by NASCAR which drivers and race teams perceive as favoritism and unfair treatment. Yellow flags that raise caution include pressure from unwavering fans, and the friction between innovation and maintaining parity among teams. Proposed solutions include changing the culture within the NASCAR community, as well as developing ethical role models, both of which require major action by NASCAR's top managers to signal the importance of ethical behavior. Other key stakeholders such as sponsors and fans must create incentives and rewards for ethical behavior, and consider reducing or ending support for drivers and teams that engage in unethical conduct. Our analysis and recommendations have broad applications because NASCAR is an archetype of a large organization attempting to reduce cheating and unethical behavior.
Authors :: Melissa S Baucus, William I. Norton Jr., Beth Davis-Sramek, William Meek
Swot Analysis of "Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?" written by Melissa S Baucus, William I. Norton Jr., Beth Davis-Sramek, William Meek includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cheating Nascar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Regulation and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cheating Nascar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cheating Nascar
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 Cheating Nascar
Strengths Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cheating Nascar in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cheating Nascar to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cheating Nascar to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating Nascar in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cheating Nascar 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.
Training and development
– Cheating Nascar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Cheating Nascar
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cheating Nascar does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Cheating Nascar is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cheating Nascar digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cheating Nascar 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.
Learning organization
- Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating Nascar is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cheating Nascar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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.
Weaknesses Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cheating Nascar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Cheating Nascar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cheating Nascar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cheating Nascar, firm in the HBR case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cheating Nascar 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 - Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cheating Nascar 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Melissa S Baucus, William I. Norton Jr., Beth Davis-Sramek, William Meek suggests that, Cheating Nascar 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cheating Nascar products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cheating Nascar needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?, in the dynamic environment Cheating Nascar has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cheating Nascar has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cheating Nascar 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. Cheating Nascar 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating Nascar 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cheating Nascar is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?, it seems that the employees of Cheating Nascar don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? | 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cheating Nascar to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cheating Nascar 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cheating Nascar 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, Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Cheating Nascar 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. Cheating Nascar 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Cheating Nascar to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cheating Nascar 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cheating Nascar has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cheating Nascar to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? case study. Cheating Nascar can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Cheating Nascar 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cheating Nascar to increase its market reach. Cheating Nascar 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Cheating Nascar 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cheating Nascar 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cheating Nascar 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cheating Nascar 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.
Threats Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? are -
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 Cheating Nascar in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cheating Nascar 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cheating Nascar has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cheating Nascar 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cheating Nascar with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cheating Nascar 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
– Cheating Nascar 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.
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. Cheating Nascar can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Cheating Nascar business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cheating Nascar 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.
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. Cheating Nascar 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Cheating Nascar 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. Cheating Nascar can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating Nascar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
