How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense
Firms, especially those with high profit margins, are often scrutinized by regulatory authorities that suspect them of anticompetitive practices such as cartel formation. In this article I introduce a behavioral approach of competing that suggests firms with even the highest of margins are actually competing aggressively against each other, rather than colluding as the regulatory authorities might suggest. Firms using the behavioral approach can signal to antitrust authorities that their intent is not to restrain competition. Four mechanisms show this competitive orientation: (1) competitive intensity, (2) competitive complexity, (3) attack imitation, and (4) competitive action speed.
Swot Analysis of "How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense" written by Arpita Agnihotri includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Authorities Behavioral facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Authorities Behavioral, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Authorities Behavioral 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Authorities Behavioral
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 Authorities Behavioral
Strengths How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Authorities Behavioral in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Authorities Behavioral is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Authorities Behavioral has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Authorities Behavioral 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.
Training and development
– Authorities Behavioral has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Authorities Behavioral in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Authorities Behavioral 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Authorities Behavioral to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Authorities Behavioral to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Authorities Behavioral 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Authorities Behavioral digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Authorities Behavioral 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.
Analytics focus
– Authorities Behavioral 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 Arpita Agnihotri 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 Authorities Behavioral
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Authorities Behavioral does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Authorities Behavioral is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Authorities Behavioral is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Authorities Behavioral 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Authorities Behavioral 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Authorities Behavioral products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Authorities Behavioral needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Authorities Behavioral 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense, it seems that the employees of Authorities Behavioral 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
Authorities Behavioral 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Authorities Behavioral 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Authorities Behavioral has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Arpita Agnihotri suggests that, Authorities Behavioral 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense HBR case study mentions - Authorities Behavioral 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Authorities Behavioral 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 - How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense | 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense are -
Loyalty marketing
– Authorities Behavioral 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.
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. Authorities Behavioral can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Authorities Behavioral 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.
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 Authorities Behavioral 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Authorities Behavioral 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 Authorities Behavioral to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Authorities Behavioral can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Authorities Behavioral 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.
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 Authorities Behavioral in the consumer business. Now Authorities Behavioral can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Authorities Behavioral 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Authorities Behavioral to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Authorities Behavioral 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Authorities Behavioral is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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. Authorities Behavioral can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Authorities Behavioral 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.
Threats How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Authorities Behavioral 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Authorities Behavioral is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Authorities Behavioral can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense, Authorities Behavioral 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 .
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.
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 Authorities Behavioral business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Authorities Behavioral 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.
Environmental challenges
– Authorities Behavioral 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. Authorities Behavioral can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Authorities Behavioral.
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. Authorities Behavioral needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Authorities Behavioral in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Authorities Behavioral 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Authorities Behavioral with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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 How to avoid regulatory antitrust scrutiny: The behavioral defense 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 Authorities Behavioral needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
