Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg
The author introduces the concept of 'Total Leadership', an approach he developed that aims to improve a leader's performance in all aspects of life-work, home, community, and self-by finding mutual value among them. In this article, he focuses on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who exemplifies Total Leadership by embracing three elements of the approach: building networks that provide support, using personal stories to teach, and continually resolving tensions between the different parts of life. By sharing her personal story, he shows that Sheryl Sandberg is a new breed of executive: for her, it's not about yielding to either/or; instead, it's about searching for both/and. Along the way, he shows how she has struggled, adapted, and felt intense guilt, but continues to actively pursue four-way wins over the long run. No matter where you are on the arc of your life, Total Leadership offers a model for shaping your life for the better.
Swot Analysis of "Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg" written by Stewart D. Friedman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sheryl Sandberg facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sheryl Sandberg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sheryl Sandberg
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 Sheryl Sandberg
Strengths Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sheryl Sandberg in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Sheryl Sandberg has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sheryl Sandberg digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sheryl Sandberg is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sheryl Sandberg is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sheryl Sandberg in the sector have low bargaining power. Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sheryl Sandberg to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sheryl Sandberg to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sheryl Sandberg to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sheryl Sandberg is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sheryl Sandberg 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stewart D. Friedman suggests that, Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg, in the dynamic environment Sheryl Sandberg has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sheryl Sandberg has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Sheryl Sandberg has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sheryl Sandberg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sheryl Sandberg needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sheryl Sandberg 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 - Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sheryl Sandberg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg, is just above the industry average. Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Opportunities Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg | 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg are -
Manufacturing automation
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Sheryl Sandberg can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Sheryl Sandberg can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sheryl Sandberg can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sheryl Sandberg is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sheryl Sandberg 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, Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Threats Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg are -
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 Sheryl Sandberg.
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. Sheryl Sandberg needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg .
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.
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. Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Environmental challenges
– Sheryl Sandberg 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. Sheryl Sandberg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sheryl Sandberg with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Sheryl Sandberg business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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. Sheryl Sandberg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sheryl Sandberg is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.