Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream
Describes the challenge of starting new ventures or new activities in established companies, especially if they diverge from the mainstream of ongoing commitments. Fledgling ventures require a different kind of management that acknowledges their uncertainty, intensity, and need/desire for freedom from mainstream constraints. One challenge is how integrated or not the new activity should be with the rest of the organization. Provides criteria for making this choice and offers some examples.
Swot Analysis of "Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mainstream Challenge facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Organizational structure and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mainstream Challenge, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mainstream Challenge 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mainstream Challenge
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 Mainstream Challenge
Strengths Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mainstream Challenge in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Mainstream Challenge 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 Mainstream Challenge is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Mainstream Challenge 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 Rosabeth Moss Kanter 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mainstream Challenge is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mainstream Challenge 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Mainstream Challenge has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mainstream Challenge to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mainstream Challenge in the sector have low bargaining power. Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mainstream Challenge to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Mainstream Challenge has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mainstream Challenge has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mainstream Challenge 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mainstream Challenge 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mainstream Challenge digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mainstream Challenge 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mainstream Challenge to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mainstream Challenge to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Mainstream Challenge is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream, it seems that the employees of Mainstream Challenge 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Mainstream Challenge 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, Mainstream Challenge 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mainstream Challenge 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 Mainstream Challenge products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mainstream Challenge needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Mainstream Challenge 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream, is just above the industry average. Mainstream Challenge 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Mainstream Challenge has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mainstream Challenge 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mainstream Challenge 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream, 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.
Opportunities Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream | 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mainstream Challenge 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.
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. Mainstream Challenge 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. Mainstream Challenge 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.
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. Mainstream Challenge can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mainstream Challenge is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mainstream Challenge can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mainstream Challenge can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mainstream Challenge 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mainstream Challenge to increase its market reach. Mainstream Challenge 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mainstream Challenge 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mainstream Challenge 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mainstream Challenge to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mainstream Challenge 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, Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mainstream Challenge 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 Mainstream Challenge to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mainstream Challenge 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.
Threats Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mainstream Challenge with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Mainstream Challenge.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mainstream Challenge 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 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mainstream Challenge 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 Mainstream Challenge in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mainstream Challenge 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mainstream Challenge has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mainstream Challenge 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mainstream Challenge is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Mainstream Challenge needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mainstream Challenge 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream, Mainstream Challenge 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 .
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 Mainstream Challenge business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream 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 Mainstream Challenge needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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