Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It
When we want to learn a new skill in life, we try out a new behaviour. Some behaviours fulfill their intended purpose; others do not. Feedback-signals from the environment that tell us whether or not the behaviour we produced had the intended effect-is essential to changing, adapting or modifying human behaviour. That's what learning is all about. Learning theorists and practitioners agree that feedback is a prime enabler of learning. Yet in higher education, it is spotty, ill-timed or utterly missing. The authors-who head up the Self-Development Lab at the University of Toronto-show what can be done about it.
Swot Analysis of "Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It" written by Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, Maja Djikic includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Behaviour Feedback facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Behaviour Feedback, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Behaviour Feedback 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Behaviour Feedback
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 Behaviour Feedback
Strengths Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Behaviour Feedback in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Behaviour Feedback to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Behaviour Feedback to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Behaviour Feedback 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 Behaviour Feedback is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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.
Training and development
– Behaviour Feedback has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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
– Behaviour Feedback is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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.
Organizational Resilience of Behaviour Feedback
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Behaviour Feedback does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Behaviour Feedback is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Behaviour Feedback in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Behaviour Feedback 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 Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, Maja Djikic 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Behaviour Feedback 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.
High brand equity
– Behaviour Feedback has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Behaviour Feedback to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Behaviour Feedback 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 Behaviour Feedback in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Behaviour Feedback products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Behaviour Feedback needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Behaviour Feedback 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, it seems that the employees of Behaviour Feedback 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
Behaviour Feedback 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Behaviour Feedback has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Behaviour Feedback is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, Maja Djikic suggests that, Behaviour Feedback 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Behaviour Feedback 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.
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 Behaviour Feedback supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Behaviour Feedback vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Behaviour Feedback is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Behaviour Feedback needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Behaviour Feedback to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Behaviour Feedback is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It | 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Behaviour Feedback to increase its market reach. Behaviour Feedback 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
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. Behaviour Feedback 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. Behaviour Feedback 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.
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 Behaviour Feedback in the consumer business. Now Behaviour Feedback can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Behaviour Feedback has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Behaviour Feedback to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Behaviour Feedback to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Behaviour Feedback 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.
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 Behaviour Feedback 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. Behaviour Feedback can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Behaviour Feedback has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Behaviour Feedback to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It case study. Behaviour Feedback can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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. Behaviour Feedback 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, Behaviour Feedback 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Behaviour Feedback needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Behaviour Feedback is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Behaviour Feedback needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Behaviour Feedback 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. Behaviour Feedback can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Behaviour Feedback with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Behaviour Feedback has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Behaviour Feedback 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Behaviour Feedback in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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 Behaviour Feedback in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Behaviour Feedback business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Behaviour Feedback needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.