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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Sheryl Sandberg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sheryl Sandberg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Sheryl Sandberg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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 -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sheryl Sandberg is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Sheryl Sandberg needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sheryl Sandberg to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sheryl Sandberg, firm in the HBR case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
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 Sheryl Sandberg supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sheryl Sandberg vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg 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 Sheryl Sandberg has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sheryl Sandberg to increase its market reach. Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sheryl Sandberg has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sheryl Sandberg to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg case study. Sheryl Sandberg can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sheryl Sandberg 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 Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sheryl Sandberg to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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.
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.
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. Sheryl Sandberg 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. Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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 Sheryl Sandberg in the consumer business. Now Sheryl Sandberg 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 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.
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 -
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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.
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 .
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.
Increasing wage structure of Sheryl Sandberg
– 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 Sheryl Sandberg.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sheryl Sandberg has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sheryl Sandberg 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Portrait of a Leader: Sheryl Sandberg, Sheryl Sandberg 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 .
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 Sheryl Sandberg in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sheryl Sandberg 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.
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.
