Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionThis article describes the leadership style of Coach Jack Clark, under whose leadership Cal Rugby has won 21 national championships during the last 25 years. The article examines his leadership philosophy and strategies to create a high performance team culture. It discusses how his experiences as an athlete and businessman helped shape his approach to leading and developing teams. He cites the importance of good recruitment practices, setting expectations, constant performance feedback, managing conflict, and having a shared definition of leadership as keys factors to a successful team. In 2010, Clark faced a series of unprecedented challenges, including having his team downgraded from varsity to club status because of budget cuts. This article describes how he addressed these challenges. Please note: this case also has two supplementary cases available. The (B) and (C) supplements can be found using product numbers B674 and B675.
Swot Analysis of "Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better" written by Holly Schroth includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Clark Coach facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Leading teams, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clark Coach, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clark Coach 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clark Coach
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 Clark Coach
Strengths Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clark Coach in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clark Coach 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Clark Coach 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.
Analytics focus
– Clark Coach 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clark Coach 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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
– Clark Coach 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 Clark Coach in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Clark Coach is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Clark Coach in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clark Coach to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clark Coach to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Clark Coach has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Clark Coach is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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.
Learning organization
- Clark Coach 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 Clark Coach is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Clark Coach has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Clark Coach to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Clark Coach is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Clark Coach needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Clark Coach to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Clark Coach, firm in the HBR case study Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Clark Coach products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Clark Coach needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clark Coach 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clark Coach 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better HBR case study mentions - Clark Coach 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, Holly Schroth suggests that, Clark Coach 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark Coach 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better, is just above the industry average. Clark Coach 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Clark Coach has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Clark Coach is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better | 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Clark Coach can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clark Coach operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Clark Coach 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Clark Coach can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Clark Coach 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, Clark Coach is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Clark Coach 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Clark Coach has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Clark Coach to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better case study. Clark Coach can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Clark Coach 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, Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better, 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. Clark Coach 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. Clark Coach 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clark Coach to increase its market reach. Clark Coach 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Clark Coach can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Clark Coach 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Clark Coach 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.
Threats Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better are -
Environmental challenges
– Clark Coach 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. Clark Coach can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Clark Coach 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better .
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 Clark Coach in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Clark Coach with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clark Coach 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.
Increasing wage structure of Clark Coach
– 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 Clark Coach.
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. Clark Coach 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Clark Coach 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.
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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better, Clark Coach may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Clark Coach business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Clark Coach can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Clark Coach 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coach Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark (A): It's Not About Winning. It's About Getting Better 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 Clark Coach needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.