To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job
Most professionals aspiring to positions of greater responsibility have little time to map out a strategy for reaching their long-term career goals. But what made executives successful in the past does not guarantee their success in the future. In this article, the author of Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader discusses how executives can step up their leadership potential. The thoughtful approach consists of three core elements: making your day-to-day work more strategic; diversifying your network; and transforming your leadership style and identity. It may take some time until these activities become habits, but once the changes become internalized, your identity as a leader will be clear.
Swot Analysis of "To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job" written by Herminia Ibarra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leader Step facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leader Step, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leader Step 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leader Step
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 Leader Step
Strengths To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leader Step in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Leader Step 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Leader Step 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 Leader Step 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 Leader Step 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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.
Training and development
– Leader Step has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Leader Step 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Leader Step 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Leader Step in the sector have low bargaining power. To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Leader Step to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Leader Step has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Leader Step to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Leader Step digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Leader Step 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Leader Step has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Leader Step 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.
Learning organization
- Leader Step 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 Leader Step is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job HBR case study mentions - Leader Step 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Leader Step is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job, 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leader Step is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job, it seems that the employees of Leader Step 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Leader Step 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Leader Step, firm in the HBR case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Leader Step 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Leader Step 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.
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 Leader Step supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Leader Step vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Leader Step 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job | 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job are -
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 Leader Step 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Leader Step 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Leader Step 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Leader Step 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Leader Step to increase its market reach. Leader Step 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Leader Step 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.
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. Leader Step 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. Leader Step 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.
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. Leader Step can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Leader Step 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Leader Step 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 Leader Step to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Leader Step 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.
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 Leader Step in the consumer business. Now Leader Step 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 Leader Step has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leader Step to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job case study. Leader Step can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job are -
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 Leader Step in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Leader Step
– 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 Leader Step.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Leader Step 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.
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. Leader Step can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Leader Step business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Leader Step 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. Leader Step can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Leader Step is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Leader Step 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Leader Step 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.
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. Leader Step needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Leader Step has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Leader Step 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.
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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 To Step Up as a Leader, You Need to Step Out: Redefining Your Job 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 Leader Step needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
