Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry
Sprint Corporation, a major U.S. wireless carrier, had been losing customers and suffering financially since its merger with Nextel in 2005. Sprint was also ranked the lowest among major U.S. carriers in terms of network speed and data performance. But a new opportunity emerged when the SoftBank Group acquired Sprint in 2013. The new chief executive officer (CEO), appointed in August 2014, publicly gave himself three to five years to turn around this major telecommunication company. The new CEO had a plan; however, he faced many challenges. Sprint had national brand recognition, but customers demanded improvements in network quality and service reliability, and the turnaround plan needed to be implemented in a capital-intensive industry with a saturated market. The optimistic CEO admitted that he faced the biggest challenge of his career. Would he be successful in turning around Sprint's fortunes in this competitive industry? Won-Yong Oh is affiliated with University of Calgary.
Swot Analysis of "Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry" written by Won-Yong Oh, Duane Myer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sprint Sprint's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mobile and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sprint Sprint's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sprint Sprint's
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 Sprint Sprint's
Strengths Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sprint Sprint's in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint Sprint's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint Sprint's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Sprint Sprint's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sprint Sprint's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sprint Sprint's 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.
Organizational Resilience of Sprint Sprint's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sprint Sprint's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Sprint Sprint's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sprint Sprint's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sprint Sprint's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sprint Sprint's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sprint Sprint's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sprint Sprint's is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sprint Sprint's 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sprint Sprint's, firm in the HBR case study Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sprint Sprint's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sprint Sprint's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sprint Sprint's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Sprint Sprint's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sprint Sprint's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sprint Sprint's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry, in the dynamic environment Sprint Sprint's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sprint Sprint's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry HBR case study mentions - Sprint Sprint's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Sprint Sprint's 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.
Opportunities Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry | 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sprint Sprint's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Sprint Sprint's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sprint Sprint's 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.
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. Sprint Sprint's 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. Sprint Sprint's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sprint Sprint's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sprint Sprint's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Sprint Sprint's in the consumer business. Now Sprint Sprint's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Sprint Sprint's 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. Sprint Sprint's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sprint Sprint's 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, Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sprint Sprint's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Sprint Sprint's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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.
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 Sprint Sprint's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sprint Sprint's 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.
Threats Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sprint Sprint's 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.
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 Sprint Sprint's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sprint Sprint's 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sprint Sprint's 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 Sprint Sprint's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
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 Sprint Sprint's.
Increasing wage structure of Sprint Sprint's
– 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 Sprint Sprint's.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sprint Sprint's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sprint Sprint's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sprint Sprint's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Sprint Sprint's 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. Sprint Sprint's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Sprint Sprint's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint: Turnaround in the U.S. Telecom Industry 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 Sprint Sprint's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.