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 - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
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.
Analytics focus
– Boards Reality 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 Jonathan Bailey, Tim Koller, David Beatty, Matt Fullbrook 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 lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Boards Reality 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 Boards Reality in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Boards Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Boards Reality
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Boards Reality does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality 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 All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Boards Reality is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 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 Boards Reality supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Boards Reality vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Boards Reality 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 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality, 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 Boards Reality, firm in the HBR case study All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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. Boards Reality can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Boards Reality 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, All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Boards Reality 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Boards Reality can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Boards Reality operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Boards Reality has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Boards Reality to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the All Aboard: Making Board Effectiveness a Reality case study. Boards Reality can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 -
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 .
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 Boards Reality business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Boards Reality 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. Boards Reality can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Boards Reality 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Boards Reality can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Boards Reality
– 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 Boards Reality.
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.
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.
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.