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 - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, 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 -
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Behaviour Feedback 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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Behaviour Feedback 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Behaviour Feedback in the sector have low bargaining power. Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Behaviour Feedback to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Behaviour Feedback 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Behaviour Feedback has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Behaviour Feedback 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.
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.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Behaviour Feedback is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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 -
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Behaviour Feedback 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 - Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Behaviour Feedback 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, in the dynamic environment Behaviour Feedback has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Behaviour Feedback 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 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, is just above the industry average. Behaviour Feedback 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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 Behaviour Feedback 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Behaviour Feedback has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Behaviour Feedback even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
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.
Need for greater diversity
– Behaviour Feedback 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 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.
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 -
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Behaviour Feedback 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, Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Behaviour Feedback can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Behaviour Feedback can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It 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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Behaviour Feedback 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Behaviour Feedback 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 Behaviour Feedback to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 -
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. Behaviour Feedback 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
– Behaviour Feedback 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.
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.
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.
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 Behaviour Feedback.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Behaviour Feedback 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Behaviour Feedback 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 Feedback: The Broken Loop in Higher Education - and How to Fix It .
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.
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Behaviour Feedback
– 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 Behaviour Feedback.
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.
