Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company
This is a case organized around the theme of preserving an entrepreneurial culture in the face of rapid growth, including over 800 employees and several offices. Founded by four friends, all still under age 30, the company has reached over $124 million in annual sales. As of January 23, 2015, when the company went public, its market valuation was over $1.5 billion. The company is particularly conscious of wanting to preserve the open, action-centered, fun culture that has been created. In some ways it is a highly representative Silicon Valley technology company, and the case tries to capture the flavor of such an organization. There is an excellent video available that was made for Inc. magazine when it named Box CEO Aaron Levie as entrepreneur of the year in 2013,[1] as well as several video interview clips done for the case with Dan Levin, COO.
Swot Analysis of "Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company" written by Allan Cohen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Preserving Box facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, IPO, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Preserving Box, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Preserving Box 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Preserving Box
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 Preserving Box
Strengths Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Preserving Box in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Preserving Box to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Preserving Box to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Preserving Box is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 brand equity
– Preserving Box has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Preserving Box to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Preserving Box 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 Allan Cohen 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Preserving Box 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 Preserving Box in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Preserving Box is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Preserving Box has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Preserving Box digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Preserving Box 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.
Learning organization
- Preserving Box 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 Preserving Box is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Preserving Box 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Preserving Box has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Preserving Box 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.
Weaknesses Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Preserving Box 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 Preserving Box supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Preserving Box vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company, in the dynamic environment Preserving Box has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Preserving Box has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Preserving Box 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Preserving Box has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Preserving Box 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Allan Cohen suggests that, Preserving Box is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Preserving Box 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Preserving Box is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Preserving Box is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company, 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.
Opportunities Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company | 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Preserving Box 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Preserving Box can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Preserving Box operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Preserving Box 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.
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 Preserving Box in the consumer business. Now Preserving Box can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Preserving Box can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Preserving Box 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Preserving Box to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Preserving Box 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. Preserving Box 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 Preserving Box to increase its market reach. Preserving Box 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Preserving Box 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
– Preserving Box 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Preserving Box is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Preserving Box can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Preserving Box has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Preserving Box to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company case study. Preserving Box can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company are -
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.
Increasing wage structure of Preserving Box
– 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 Preserving Box.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Preserving Box with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Preserving Box 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Preserving Box 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. Preserving Box needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Preserving Box 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company, Preserving Box 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 .
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 Preserving Box.
Environmental challenges
– Preserving Box 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. Preserving Box can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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.
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 Preserving Box in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Preserving Box business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Box. Inc.: Preserving Start-Up Culture in a Rapidly Growing Company 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 Preserving Box needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.