Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A)
Pat Fili-Krushel, CEO and president of WebMD and past president of ABC Network, contemplates accepting Richard Parson's offer to become the first executive vice president of administration at AOL Time Warner. Accepting this position would be a move back into mainstream media but also a career shift from line positions to a corporate staff role. The case profiles Fili-Krushel's media experiences, and her use of interpersonal influence and negotiation, leading up to the critical decision point. After consulting with colleagues throughout the media industry, Fili-Krushel's decision rests on her own career aspirations and her expectations about the future of AOL Time Warner.
Authors :: Kathleen L. McGinn, Deborah M. Kolb, Cailin B. Hammer
Swot Analysis of "Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A)" written by Kathleen L. McGinn, Deborah M. Kolb, Cailin B. Hammer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fili Krushel's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Gender, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fili Krushel's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fili Krushel's 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fili Krushel's
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 Fili Krushel's
Strengths Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fili Krushel's in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fili Krushel's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fili Krushel's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fili Krushel's 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fili Krushel's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Fili Krushel's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Fili Krushel's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Fili Krushel's 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.
Learning organization
- Fili Krushel's 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 Fili Krushel's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Fili Krushel's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Fili Krushel's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Fili Krushel's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fili Krushel's 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fili Krushel's in the sector have low bargaining power. Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fili Krushel's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Fili Krushel's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A), it seems that the employees of Fili Krushel's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fili Krushel's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Fili Krushel's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fili Krushel's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fili Krushel's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A), is just above the industry average. Fili Krushel's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Fili Krushel's 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fili Krushel's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Fili Krushel's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fili Krushel's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fili Krushel's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fili Krushel's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) | 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Fili Krushel's 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.
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 Fili Krushel's 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 Fili Krushel's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fili Krushel's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fili Krushel's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Fili Krushel's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fili Krushel's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) case study. Fili Krushel's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fili Krushel's 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
– Fili Krushel's 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.
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. Fili Krushel's 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. Fili Krushel's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Fili Krushel's 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fili Krushel's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fili Krushel's 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 Fili Krushel's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fili Krushel's 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, Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fili Krushel's to increase its market reach. Fili Krushel's 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.
Threats Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) are -
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 Fili Krushel's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fili Krushel's 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fili Krushel's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A), Fili Krushel's 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. Fili Krushel's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fili Krushel's 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.
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 Fili Krushel's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Fili Krushel's 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. Fili Krushel's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Fili Krushel's 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fili Krushel's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Fili Krushel's 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. Fili Krushel's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A) 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 Fili Krushel's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.