LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within
The case discusses LinkedIn's corporate culture in 2012-2103 and the importance the professional networking company put on maintaining that culture as it dramatically expanded in headcount domestically and internationally. LinkedIn's leadership believed its culture was its competitive advantage. The company fostered creativity, innovation, and a collaborative and open working environment, embraced humor, and was results oriented. LinkedIn sought to hire staff who wanted to make a positive lasting impact in the world and who valued integrity. To build and grow the corporate culture, two programs were designed to inspire creativity and collaboration: 1) Hackdays, in which teams of engineers worked to find solutions to problems they found personally engaging; and 2) Incubator, in which a team could pitch a product to the executive staff and potentially get time to turn the idea into a reality. Maintaining the culture also meant that employees were given a day off every month for personal development. LinkedIn Analytics data was used to measure overall strategy and results as well as employee satisfaction; "All Hands Meetings" twice a month included fun activities and some tiebacks to the company's culture along with reviewing the company's operating priorities and progress; and social impact programs were given a high priority. LinkedIn aimed to hire and promote from within, and when hiring externally looked for evidence of collaboration, humor, and passion. New employees were assigned a personal mentor, and all employees were part of initiatives to help colleagues learn new skills. The company's leadership had to figure out how it could maintain or modify these activities as it quickly grew.
Authors :: Sarah A Soule, Michael Golomb, Debra Schifrin
Swot Analysis of "LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within" written by Sarah A Soule, Michael Golomb, Debra Schifrin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Linkedin Culture facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Innovation, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Linkedin Culture, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Linkedin Culture 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Linkedin Culture
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 Linkedin Culture
Strengths LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Linkedin Culture in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Linkedin Culture has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Linkedin Culture 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Linkedin Culture is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Linkedin Culture has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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.
Learning organization
- Linkedin Culture 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 Linkedin Culture is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Linkedin Culture 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 Sarah A Soule, Michael Golomb, Debra Schifrin 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Linkedin Culture 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Linkedin Culture 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
– Linkedin Culture is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Linkedin Culture to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Linkedin Culture to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Linkedin Culture in the sector have low bargaining power. LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Linkedin Culture to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Linkedin Culture
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Linkedin Culture does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Linkedin Culture 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Linkedin Culture, firm in the HBR case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Linkedin Culture 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 - LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within, is just above the industry average. Linkedin Culture 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Linkedin Culture is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Linkedin Culture 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within, in the dynamic environment Linkedin Culture has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Linkedin Culture has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within HBR case study mentions - Linkedin Culture 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within, it seems that the employees of Linkedin Culture 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
Linkedin Culture 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.
Opportunities LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within | 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Linkedin Culture 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Linkedin Culture 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Linkedin Culture 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 Linkedin Culture 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. Linkedin Culture can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Linkedin Culture in the consumer business. Now Linkedin Culture can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Linkedin Culture 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Linkedin Culture can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Linkedin Culture operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Linkedin Culture can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Linkedin Culture 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Linkedin Culture 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, LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Linkedin Culture is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Linkedin Culture to increase its market reach. Linkedin Culture 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Linkedin Culture can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Linkedin Culture is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Linkedin Culture 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. Linkedin Culture can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Linkedin Culture 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Linkedin Culture 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.
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 Linkedin Culture in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Linkedin Culture 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.
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. Linkedin Culture can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Linkedin Culture business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Linkedin Culture.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Linkedin Culture 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Linkedin Culture 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Linkedin Culture with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Linkedin Culture 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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 LinkedIn: Transformation Driven From Within 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 Linkedin Culture needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.