Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?
This three-part case traces Carrie Wagner's career in a single, large international package delivery company over a 30-year period during which she rose through the ranks from a student's summer job to senior executive positions. Part (C) - Cutting the Cord? (5 p.) - At 46, Carrie is seen as a potential VP, and reluctantly accepts a job as head of Human Resources, reporting to the President and his first VPs. The case describes the challenges of this new position for Carrie and how she finds it difficult to work in an advisory role that is disconnected from operations. After five years in this position, she becomes aware of an opportunity outside the company that piques her interest. This opportunity, combined with several other considerations, including professional as well personal factors, lead Carrie to wonder whether she should not give up on a possible VP position and ""cut the cord"" with the company where she has worked for 30 years.
Authors :: Anne Mesny, Brian King, Viana Poulin, Catherine Lassure
Swot Analysis of "Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?" written by Anne Mesny, Brian King, Viana Poulin, Catherine Lassure includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carrie Cord facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carrie Cord, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carrie Cord 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carrie Cord
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 Carrie Cord
Strengths Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carrie Cord in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Carrie Cord has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carrie Cord 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Carrie Cord
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Carrie Cord does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Carrie Cord is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Carrie Cord 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Carrie Cord 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 Carrie Cord in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Carrie Cord is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Carrie Cord in the sector have low bargaining power. Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Carrie Cord to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carrie Cord to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carrie Cord to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Carrie Cord in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Carrie Cord 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 Anne Mesny, Brian King, Viana Poulin, Catherine Lassure 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Carrie Cord is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Carrie Cord 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? HBR case study mentions - Carrie Cord 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Carrie Cord has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Lack of clear differentiation of Carrie Cord products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Carrie Cord needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, it seems that the employees of Carrie Cord 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Carrie Cord 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, is just above the industry average. Carrie Cord 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, in the dynamic environment Carrie Cord has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Carrie Cord has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Carrie Cord is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Carrie Cord is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Carrie Cord needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Carrie Cord to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? | 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Carrie Cord 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 Carrie Cord to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Carrie Cord is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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.
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. Carrie Cord can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Carrie Cord 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.
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. Carrie Cord can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Carrie Cord can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carrie Cord operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Carrie Cord can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Carrie Cord has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Carrie Cord to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? case study. Carrie Cord can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Carrie Cord 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Carrie Cord to increase its market reach. Carrie Cord 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Carrie Cord 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, Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carrie Cord can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Carrie Cord 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. Carrie Cord 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.
Threats Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? are -
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. Carrie Cord 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.
Increasing wage structure of Carrie Cord
– 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 Carrie Cord.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord?, Carrie Cord 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Carrie Cord with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Carrie Cord business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Carrie Cord.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Carrie Cord has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Carrie Cord 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.
Environmental challenges
– Carrie Cord 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. Carrie Cord 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, Carrie Cord 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? .
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.
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. Carrie Cord can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Carrie Cord 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.
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 Carrie Cord in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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 Carrie Wagner: Climbing the Corporate Ladder (C) - Cut the Cord? 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 Carrie Cord needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.