K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B)
Chris Warner led a team of experienced mountain climbers on an expedition to reach the summit of K2-the second-highest in the world. After failing to succeed on their first few attempts, Warner and his team brought together other teams hoping to reach the summit, and representing eight different countries, to work together for success. Their story is a narrative full of examples, where in some instances, a leadership point of view was taken, and other times it was not. The successes and failures of the expedition's approach makes for a story bursting with real-world examples and offers an exciting framework to house theoretical concepts about team-building and leadership. Although grounded in the written cases, the series also includes an optional a multimedia supplement offers compelling photos and video for students and instructors. After working together with several other international teams to reach the K2 summit, the descent becomes extremely dangerous. The B case finds the climbers in the midst of a raging blizzard. With a missing Italian mountaineer, a Czech climber suffering from hypothermia and cerebral edema, and the theft of a critical survival tool, Warner must decide whether to go look for the missing climber or try to get his expedition off K2 safely.
Swot Analysis of "K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B)" written by James G. Clawson, Gerry Yemen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that K2 Summit facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Data, Decision making, Leadership, Leading teams, Risk management, Strategic thinking and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the K2 Summit, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of K2 Summit
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 K2 Summit
Strengths K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of K2 Summit in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– K2 Summit is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For K2 Summit digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. K2 Summit 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.
Training and development
– K2 Summit has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– K2 Summit has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. K2 Summit 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of K2 Summit in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– K2 Summit is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– K2 Summit is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that K2 Summit 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the K2 Summit 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– K2 Summit 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 K2 Summit in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B), it seems that the employees of K2 Summit 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B), is just above the industry average. K2 Summit 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though K2 Summit 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 - K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at K2 Summit 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) HBR case study mentions - K2 Summit 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, K2 Summit 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, K2 Summit 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B), in the dynamic environment K2 Summit has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. K2 Summit has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, K2 Summit 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
K2 Summit 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.
Need for greater diversity
– K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) | 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) are -
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. K2 Summit can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, K2 Summit can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
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 K2 Summit 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.
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. K2 Summit 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. K2 Summit 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for K2 Summit 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.
Buying journey improvements
– K2 Summit can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help K2 Summit to increase its market reach. K2 Summit 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, K2 Summit can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that K2 Summit operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help K2 Summit to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at K2 Summit 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.
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 K2 Summit in the consumer business. Now K2 Summit can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects K2 Summit can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of K2 Summit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help K2 Summit to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) case study. K2 Summit can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) are -
Increasing wage structure of K2 Summit
– 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 K2 Summit.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– K2 Summit 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.
Regulatory challenges
– K2 Summit 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.
Environmental challenges
– K2 Summit 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. K2 Summit can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– K2 Summit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, K2 Summit 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.
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. K2 Summit can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 K2 Summit in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– K2 Summit 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, K2 Summit 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that K2 Summit is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents K2 Summit with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B), K2 Summit 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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 K2: Brotherhood of the Rope (B) 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 K2 Summit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.