Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business
Setting a strategic direction for a business school, initiating a culture change, and overcoming a massive financial deficit were challenges faced by the incoming dean of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Alison Davis-Blake. Of the four strategic pillars adopted-analytical rigor, action learning, boundarylessness, and a focus on the positive-the positive pillar was both the most controversial and the most differentiating. After experiencing dramatic success over a five-year period, Davis-Blake stepped down and a new dean was appointed, Scott DeRue. He had to determine whether to keep the positive pillar or abandon it.
Swot Analysis of "Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business" written by Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Positive Blake facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Positive Blake, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Positive Blake 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Positive Blake
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 Positive Blake
Strengths Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Positive Blake in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Positive Blake is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Positive Blake 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 Positive Blake is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Positive Blake is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Positive Blake in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Positive Blake digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Positive Blake 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Positive Blake is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Positive Blake has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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
– Positive Blake 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Positive Blake has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Positive Blake to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Positive Blake 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
– Positive Blake 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 Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn 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.
Organizational Resilience of Positive Blake
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Positive Blake does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Positive Blake, firm in the HBR case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Positive Blake 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Positive Blake has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn suggests that, Positive Blake 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Positive Blake has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business, in the dynamic environment Positive Blake has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Positive Blake has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Positive Blake is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Positive Blake 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 - Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Positive Blake 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business, it seems that the employees of Positive Blake don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business | 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Positive Blake 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.
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 Positive Blake in the consumer business. Now Positive Blake can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Positive Blake 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 Positive Blake to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Positive Blake 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Positive Blake to increase its market reach. Positive Blake 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.
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 Positive Blake 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.
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. Positive Blake can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Positive Blake is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Positive Blake 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 Positive Blake can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Positive Blake 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Positive Blake 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, Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Positive Blake can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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.
Threats Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business are -
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 Positive Blake.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Positive Blake 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.
Increasing wage structure of Positive Blake
– 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 Positive Blake.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Positive Blake 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.
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. Positive Blake can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Positive Blake 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 Positive Blake 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
– Positive Blake 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business, Positive Blake 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
– Positive Blake 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. Positive Blake can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Positive Blake 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business .
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 Positive Blake in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business 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 Positive Blake needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Emphasizing the Positive: Forming a Strategic Identity for the Ross School of Business