Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company
Henry Silva, a soon-to-be Columbia MBA graduate and aspiring change agent, wrestled with the decision about whether to join New Power LLC, an innovative start-up energy company, as the director of special projects. In this new capacity, he would be responsible for the transformation of the company culture with the goal of creating a more dynamic and productive work environment. What steps would be necessary to win over employees and to implement a successful change agenda?
Swot Analysis of "Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company" written by Todd D. Jick includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Silva Aspiring facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Entrepreneurship, Human resource management, Influence, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Silva Aspiring, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Silva Aspiring 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Silva Aspiring
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 Silva Aspiring
Strengths Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Silva Aspiring in Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Silva Aspiring in the sector have low bargaining power. Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Silva Aspiring to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Silva Aspiring 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 Silva Aspiring in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Silva Aspiring 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 Todd D. Jick 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 Silva Aspiring in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Silva Aspiring to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Silva Aspiring to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Silva Aspiring 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Silva Aspiring has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Silva Aspiring 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Silva Aspiring 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Silva Aspiring
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Silva Aspiring does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Silva Aspiring is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 brand equity
– Silva Aspiring has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Silva Aspiring to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Silva Aspiring is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Silva Aspiring, firm in the HBR case study Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Silva Aspiring 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Silva Aspiring 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 - Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Silva Aspiring supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Silva Aspiring vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Silva Aspiring 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Silva Aspiring is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Silva Aspiring is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Silva Aspiring needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Silva Aspiring to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Silva Aspiring 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Silva Aspiring 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Silva Aspiring has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company | 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Silva Aspiring 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Silva Aspiring to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Silva Aspiring in the consumer business. Now Silva Aspiring can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Silva Aspiring is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Silva Aspiring 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Silva Aspiring can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Silva Aspiring 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Silva Aspiring has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Silva Aspiring to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company case study. Silva Aspiring can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Silva Aspiring 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.
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. Silva Aspiring 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. Silva Aspiring 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Silva Aspiring 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, Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Silva Aspiring can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Silva Aspiring 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Silva Aspiring can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Silva Aspiring 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.
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.
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. Silva Aspiring needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Silva Aspiring is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Silva Aspiring
– 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 Silva Aspiring.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company, Silva Aspiring 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Silva Aspiring 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Silva Aspiring 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Silva Aspiring 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. Silva Aspiring 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.
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. Silva Aspiring can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Silva Aspiring 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company 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 Silva Aspiring needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.