All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality
Boards of directors represent the shareholders of publicly-traded companies, validating financial results, protecting their assets, and counseling the CEO. It's a demanding responsibility, requiring directors to learn as much as they can about a company so that their insights stand up alongside those of executives. That, at least, is the ideal; but is it anywhere close to being the reality? Sadly, no, argues veteran director and educator David R. Beatty. In a wide-ranging interview with two McKinsey authors, he describes where many boards are lacking; the importance of focusing on the 3Ts (talent, time and tone), and why adding the CFO to every board is an idea worth considering. In a sidebar, the merits of family-run firms' governance models are discussed.
Authors :: Jonathan Bailey, Tim Koller, David Beatty, Matt Fullbrook
Swot Analysis of "All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality" written by Jonathan Bailey, Tim Koller, David Beatty, Matt Fullbrook includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Boards Reality facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices,
increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Boards Reality, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Boards Reality
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 Boards Reality
Strengths All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Boards Reality in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Boards Reality is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Boards Reality to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Boards Reality to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Boards Reality has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Boards Reality 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
– Boards Reality has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Boards Reality 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Boards Reality in the sector have low bargaining power. All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Boards Reality to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Boards Reality is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Innovation driven organization
– Boards Reality is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Boards Reality digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Boards Reality 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Boards Reality is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Boards Reality 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 Boards Reality is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Boards Reality 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. Boards Reality 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Boards Reality is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Boards Reality needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Boards Reality to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Boards Reality 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 Boards Reality has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Boards Reality is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality, in the dynamic environment Boards Reality has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Boards Reality has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Boards Reality 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Boards Reality 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 - All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality HBR case study mentions - Boards Reality 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Boards Reality 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Boards Reality 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.
Opportunities All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality | 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality are -
Loyalty marketing
– Boards Reality 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Boards Reality 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Boards Reality 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 Boards Reality to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Boards Reality is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Boards Reality 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Boards Reality 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Boards Reality 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Boards Reality to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Boards Reality can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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.
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. Boards Reality can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Boards Reality 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. Boards Reality 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Boards Reality to increase its market reach. Boards Reality 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Boards Reality can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality, Boards Reality 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 .
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. Boards Reality needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Boards Reality 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality .
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 Boards Reality.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Boards Reality is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Boards Reality in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Boards Reality 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
– Boards Reality has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Boards Reality needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Boards Reality 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.
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. Boards Reality can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 Boards Reality needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
