The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media

This article focuses on crisis management and leadership by executives, boards, and institutions and applies research on resilience, power, and sensemaking in the analysis of the ousting and subsequent return of a chief executive by the board of directors. Insights are shared on the transparency of information, the power of social media, the role of leaders in a crisis, and the ability of different voices to be heard and exert influence in our social media age. This case study provides a set of recommendations for leadership and crisis management in the contemporary business environment by showing how a crisis can be fueled by social media. Twitter is analyzed as a source of real-time news and information, which can have a significant impact on organizations and their strategies. Furthermore, implications for new executives are highlighted, with a focus on how their initial sensemaking process shapes the ability to respond to a crisis.

Authors :: Daniel A. Gruber, Ryan E. Smerek, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Erika H. James

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Crisis management, Human resource management, Leadership, Social platforms, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media" written by Daniel A. Gruber, Ryan E. Smerek, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Erika H. James includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Crisis Sensemaking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Human resource management, Leadership, Social platforms and Leadership & Managing People.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Crisis Sensemaking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Crisis Sensemaking 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Crisis Sensemaking
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 Crisis Sensemaking

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Strengths The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Crisis Sensemaking in The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media Harvard Business Review case study are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Crisis Sensemaking in the sector have low bargaining power. The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Crisis Sensemaking to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Crisis Sensemaking in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Crisis Sensemaking has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Crisis Sensemaking is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Crisis Sensemaking in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Crisis Sensemaking 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

– The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Crisis Sensemaking to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Crisis Sensemaking to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Learning organization

- Crisis Sensemaking 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 Crisis Sensemaking is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Crisis Sensemaking 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management

– Crisis Sensemaking is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Analytics focus

– Crisis Sensemaking 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 Daniel A. Gruber, Ryan E. Smerek, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, Erika H. James 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

– Crisis Sensemaking is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

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Weaknesses The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Crisis Sensemaking is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Crisis Sensemaking 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. Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media, in the dynamic environment Crisis Sensemaking has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Crisis Sensemaking has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media, 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Crisis Sensemaking, firm in the HBR case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Need for greater diversity

– Crisis Sensemaking 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Crisis Sensemaking 's lucrative customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Crisis Sensemaking is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Crisis Sensemaking needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Crisis Sensemaking to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Lack of clear differentiation of Crisis Sensemaking products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Crisis Sensemaking needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Crisis Sensemaking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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Opportunities The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media | 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media are -

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Crisis Sensemaking to increase its market reach. Crisis Sensemaking 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.

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. Crisis Sensemaking can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Crisis Sensemaking can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Crisis Sensemaking operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Crisis Sensemaking can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Crisis Sensemaking can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Crisis Sensemaking 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Crisis Sensemaking 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, Crisis Sensemaking 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Manufacturing automation

– Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Crisis Sensemaking in the consumer business. Now Crisis Sensemaking can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Crisis Sensemaking has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Crisis Sensemaking to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media case study. Crisis Sensemaking can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Crisis Sensemaking 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.

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Threats The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media are -

Environmental challenges

– Crisis Sensemaking 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. Crisis Sensemaking can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Increasing wage structure of Crisis Sensemaking

– 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 Crisis Sensemaking.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Crisis Sensemaking is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Crisis Sensemaking with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Crisis Sensemaking 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 Crisis Sensemaking 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.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Crisis Sensemaking will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

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. Crisis Sensemaking needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Crisis Sensemaking 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.

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 Crisis Sensemaking.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Crisis Sensemaking 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media .

Regulatory challenges

– Crisis Sensemaking 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Real-time Power of Twitter: Crisis Management and Leadership in an Age of Social Media 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 Crisis Sensemaking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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