Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B)
The B case presents, for student evaluation, the comprehensive action plan that Ed Norris instituted when he became Baltimore's police commissioner. This tough, controversial former New York City police strategist exemplifies numerous leadership principles as revealed in the case. He builds commitment from business leaders, community activists, fellow officers, and skeptical politicians, all under intense media scrutiny. Norris reorganizes the department, seeks to effect cultural change, confronts malcontents, uses creative rewards, increases use of technology, and adopts a policy of transparency with the media. Classroom discussion helps students see what it takes to develop an action plan that deals with a seemingly overwhelming list of problems and issues. The A and B cases have been taught together very successfully as a two-day class. Both cases include extensive video clips for both student preparation and faculty use in class. Although similar to the Chicago Park District series this series is ten years newer.
Swot Analysis of "Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B)" written by Gerry Yemen, James G. Clawson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Norris Police facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Design, Government, Leadership, Organizational structure and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Norris Police, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Norris Police 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Norris Police
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 Norris Police
Strengths Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Norris Police in Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Norris Police
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Norris Police does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Norris Police 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.
High brand equity
– Norris Police has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Norris Police to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Norris Police 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Norris Police digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Norris Police 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Norris Police is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Norris Police is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Norris Police 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Norris Police to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Norris Police to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Norris Police 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Norris Police has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Norris Police 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.
Weaknesses Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Norris Police 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 Norris Police, firm in the HBR case study Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Norris Police 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 Norris Police supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Norris Police vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Norris Police products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Norris Police needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B), in the dynamic environment Norris Police has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Norris Police has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Norris Police is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Norris Police needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Norris Police to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Norris Police 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Norris Police 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Norris Police has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Norris Police 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.
Opportunities Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) | 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Norris Police 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Norris Police to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Norris Police 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Norris Police can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Norris Police has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Norris Police to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) case study. Norris Police can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Norris Police 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Norris Police 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, Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Norris Police 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Norris Police 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Norris Police to increase its market reach. Norris Police 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Norris Police 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 Norris Police to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Norris Police can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Norris Police 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Norris Police is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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.
Threats Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Norris Police business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Norris Police 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.
Environmental challenges
– Norris Police 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. Norris Police can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Norris Police with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Norris Police 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Norris Police has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Norris Police 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Norris Police 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.
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. Norris Police needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Norris Police 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. Norris Police can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Norris Police.
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 Norris Police in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Edward Norris and the Baltimore Police Department (B) 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 Norris Police needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.