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 - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, 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 -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cheating Nascar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
High brand equity
– Cheating Nascar has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cheating Nascar to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cheating Nascar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cheating Nascar 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cheating Nascar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cheating Nascar 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.
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 -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? HBR case study mentions - Cheating Nascar 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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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 Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cheating Nascar is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Cheating Nascar supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cheating Nascar vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cheating Nascar 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.
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 -
Buying journey improvements
– Cheating Nascar can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel? 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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cheating Nascar 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, Cheating Nascar 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cheating Nascar can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cheating Nascar operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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.
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.
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. Cheating Nascar can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
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. Cheating Nascar can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 -
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.
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.
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. Cheating Nascar needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Cheating Nascar
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cheating Nascar.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the Wheel?, Cheating Nascar 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 .
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cheating Nascar is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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? .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cheating Nascar 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.
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.