People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collectionThe Mozilla case study describes Debbie Cohen's, Vice President and Chief of People, key initiatives in a software entity that was one of the pioneers of the "open source" movement. The case study showcases Mozilla's unique culture of distributed decision-making and delegated leadership - it has a small staff of over 1,100 and millions of volunteers around the world. The case also showcases Cohen's innovative, yet tailored, talent strategy for Mozilla, and implementation of a series of initiatives related to compensation, onboarding, and development. The case study concludes in April 2013, when Cohen is able to reflect on her time working at such a unique and some would say "cultish"organization.
Swot Analysis of "People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community" written by Homa Bahrami includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mozilla Cohen's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Internet, Leadership, Managing people and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mozilla Cohen's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mozilla Cohen's 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mozilla Cohen's
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 Mozilla Cohen's
Strengths People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mozilla Cohen's in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mozilla Cohen's 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mozilla Cohen's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Mozilla Cohen's 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 Mozilla Cohen's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Mozilla Cohen's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Mozilla Cohen's 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 Homa Bahrami 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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.
Organizational Resilience of Mozilla Cohen's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mozilla Cohen's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mozilla Cohen's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mozilla Cohen's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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.
High brand equity
– Mozilla Cohen's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mozilla Cohen's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Weaknesses People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community, 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.
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 Mozilla Cohen's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mozilla Cohen's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community, in the dynamic environment Mozilla Cohen's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mozilla Cohen's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mozilla Cohen's 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community HBR case study mentions - Mozilla Cohen's takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mozilla Cohen's, firm in the HBR case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mozilla Cohen's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community, is just above the industry average. Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Opportunities People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community | 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community are -
Buying journey improvements
– Mozilla Cohen's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mozilla Cohen's 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 Mozilla Cohen's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mozilla Cohen's 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, People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mozilla Cohen's to increase its market reach. Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mozilla Cohen's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mozilla Cohen's 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.
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 Mozilla Cohen's in the consumer business. Now Mozilla Cohen's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mozilla Cohen's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mozilla Cohen's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Mozilla Cohen's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Threats People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mozilla Cohen's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mozilla Cohen's 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 Mozilla Cohen's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Mozilla Cohen's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mozilla Cohen's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mozilla Cohen's 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community .
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. Mozilla Cohen's 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 Mozilla Cohen's 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.
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. Mozilla Cohen's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Mozilla Cohen's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mozilla Cohen's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 People Operations at Mozilla Corporation: Scaling a Peer-to-Peer Global Community 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 Mozilla Cohen's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
