The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership
As our political, social and institutional environment has become increasingly volatile, we have developed new expectations of how leaders should act. Today's most effective leaders do much more than get results: they also build the capabilities of the people around them and build effective teams and systems, so that unimagined results can be achieved. If this sounds like a job that requires a great deal of thought, that's because it does. The author presents a revised leadership model that reconciles the key theories about 'what leaders do' into an integrated model that includes the thinking of John Kotter, Daniel Kahneman and Roger Martin.
Swot Analysis of "The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership" written by Jim Fisher includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leaders Kahneman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Psychology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leaders Kahneman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leaders Kahneman
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 Leaders Kahneman
Strengths The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leaders Kahneman in The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Leaders Kahneman
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leaders Kahneman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Leaders Kahneman is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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)
– Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Leaders Kahneman 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 Jim Fisher 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Leaders Kahneman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Leaders Kahneman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Leaders Kahneman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Leaders Kahneman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Leaders Kahneman 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
- Leaders Kahneman 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 Leaders Kahneman is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 Leaders Kahneman digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Leaders Kahneman 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Leaders Kahneman in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Leaders Kahneman is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership are -
Need for greater diversity
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 Leaders Kahneman has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Leaders Kahneman 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 - The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Leaders Kahneman is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Leaders Kahneman needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Leaders Kahneman to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Leaders Kahneman is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership, is just above the industry average. Leaders Kahneman 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Leaders Kahneman has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Leaders Kahneman even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leaders Kahneman is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Leaders Kahneman 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership HBR case study mentions - Leaders Kahneman takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jim Fisher suggests that, Leaders Kahneman is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Opportunities The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership | 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Leaders Kahneman 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 Leaders Kahneman 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 Leaders Kahneman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
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. Leaders Kahneman can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Leaders Kahneman 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, Leaders Kahneman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Leaders Kahneman 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, The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Leaders Kahneman can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
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 Leaders Kahneman 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Leaders Kahneman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leaders Kahneman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership case study. Leaders Kahneman can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Leaders Kahneman can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
Threats The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Leaders Kahneman 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
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 Leaders Kahneman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
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 Leaders Kahneman in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Leaders Kahneman
– 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 Leaders Kahneman.
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 Leaders Kahneman.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership .
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. Leaders Kahneman can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Leaders Kahneman 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Leaders Kahneman 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership, Leaders Kahneman 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Leaders Kahneman 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. Leaders Kahneman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 The Thoughtful Leader: A Model of Integrative Leadership 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 Leaders Kahneman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.