What Successful Project Managers Do SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of What Successful Project Managers Do
This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In today's dynamic and competitive world, a project manager's key challenge is coping with frequent unexpected events. Such events can be classified according to their level of predictability as follows: events that were anticipated but whose impacts were much stronger than expected; events that could not have been predicted; and events that could have been predicted but were not. Coping with frequent unexpected events requires an organizational culture that allows the project manager to exercise a great amount of flexibility. The traditional approach to project management emphasizes that project success depends on stability. According to this approach, project success can be achieved by focusing on planning and on controlling and managing risks. Although the popularity of this approach has sharply increased across industries, research covering a wide variety of projects consistently reveals poor performance. The authors collected data from more than 150 successful project managers affiliated with more than 20 organizations and concluded that today's successful project managers cope with unexpected events by a combination of traditional and "agile"approaches to project management. Using business examples drawn from their research at organizations such as Procter & Gamble, NASA and the construction services company Boldt, the authors identified four key roles that successful project managers play: a??The first role, developing collaboration, is performed early on during the project. a??The second role, integrating planning and review with learning, is performed periodically throughout the project. a??The third role, preventing major disruptions, is performed occasionally. a??The fourth role, maintaining forward momentum, is performed continuously. Today's managers must be people-oriented, information-oriented and action-oriented. The authors argue that by assuming the four roles discussed in this article, successful project managers will embrace all three orientations.
Authors :: Alexander Laufer, Edward J. Hoffman, Jeffrey S. Russell, W. Scott Cameron
Swot Analysis of "What Successful Project Managers Do" written by Alexander Laufer, Edward J. Hoffman, Jeffrey S. Russell, W. Scott Cameron includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Project Events facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in What Successful Project Managers Do case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the What Successful Project Managers Do casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of What Successful Project Managers Do
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in What Successful Project Managers Do case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Project Events, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Project Events 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 What Successful Project Managers Do can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in What Successful Project Managers Do case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Project Events
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 Project Events
Strengths What Successful Project Managers Do | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Project Events in What Successful Project Managers Do Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Project Events digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Project Events 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Project Events 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 What Successful Project Managers Do 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Project Events is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in What Successful Project Managers Do 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.
Organizational Resilience of Project Events
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Project Events does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Project Events is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the What Successful Project Managers Do are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Project Events 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 Alexander Laufer, Edward J. Hoffman, Jeffrey S. Russell, W. Scott Cameron 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Project Events in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Project Events has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Project Events 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Project Events 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Project Events 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
– What Successful Project Managers Do firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Project Events to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Project Events to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses What Successful Project Managers Do | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of What Successful Project Managers Do are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study What Successful Project Managers Do, it seems that the employees of Project Events 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study What Successful Project Managers Do 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 What Successful Project Managers Do can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Project Events is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As What Successful Project Managers Do HBR case study mentions - Project Events 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the What Successful Project Managers Do 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 Project Events has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Alexander Laufer, Edward J. Hoffman, Jeffrey S. Russell, W. Scott Cameron suggests that, Project Events 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study What Successful Project Managers Do has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Project Events 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Project Events is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Project Events needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Project Events to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Project Events has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Project Events even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study What Successful Project Managers Do, is just above the industry average. Project Events 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Project Events 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Project Events products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Project Events needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities What Successful Project Managers Do | 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 What Successful Project Managers Do are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Project Events 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, What Successful Project Managers Do, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Project Events has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Project Events to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the What Successful Project Managers Do case study. Project Events can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Project Events can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Project Events 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Project Events to increase its market reach. Project Events 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.
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. Project Events 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. Project Events 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Project Events is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. What Successful Project Managers Do 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
– Project Events 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 What Successful Project Managers Do - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Project Events to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Project Events 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Project Events can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Project Events operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Project Events 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 Project Events to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Project Events 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Project Events can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats What Successful Project Managers Do External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study What Successful Project Managers Do 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 Project Events.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Project Events 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Project Events 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Project Events with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Project Events
– 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 Project Events.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Project Events 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Project Events 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. Project Events can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Project Events 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. Project Events can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study What Successful Project Managers Do, Project Events 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 .
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. Project Events needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Project Events has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Project Events 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of What Successful Project Managers Do 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 What Successful Project Managers Do 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 What Successful Project Managers Do 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 What Successful Project Managers Do 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 What Successful Project Managers Do 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 Project Events needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.