Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal
Over fifty years, Rupert Murdoch built one of the most successful media conglomerates in the world. Though there had been criticism of his conduct in the past, it was only in the new millennium that allegations of phone hacking and bribery brought the threat of massive legal action against both Murdoch and his companies.
Swot Analysis of "Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal" written by Robert Crawford, N. Craig Smith includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Murdoch Hacking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Murdoch Hacking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Murdoch Hacking 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Murdoch Hacking
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 Murdoch Hacking
Strengths Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Murdoch Hacking in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Murdoch Hacking to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Murdoch Hacking to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Murdoch Hacking 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal - 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
– Murdoch Hacking has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Murdoch Hacking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Murdoch Hacking 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.
Organizational Resilience of Murdoch Hacking
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Murdoch Hacking does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Murdoch Hacking 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 Robert Crawford, N. Craig Smith 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Murdoch Hacking in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Murdoch Hacking in the sector have low bargaining power. Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Murdoch Hacking to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Murdoch Hacking digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Murdoch Hacking 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Murdoch Hacking is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal HBR case study mentions - Murdoch Hacking 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, Murdoch Hacking 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Murdoch Hacking 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal, is just above the industry average. Murdoch Hacking needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Murdoch Hacking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Murdoch Hacking 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. Murdoch Hacking 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Murdoch Hacking 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 - Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert Crawford, N. Craig Smith suggests that, Murdoch Hacking 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, Murdoch Hacking 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, Murdoch Hacking is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal | 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Murdoch Hacking 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 Murdoch Hacking to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Murdoch Hacking 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, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Murdoch Hacking 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Murdoch Hacking can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Murdoch Hacking 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Murdoch Hacking can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Murdoch Hacking 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Murdoch Hacking to increase its market reach. Murdoch Hacking 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Murdoch Hacking has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Murdoch Hacking to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal case study. Murdoch Hacking can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Murdoch Hacking 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
– Murdoch Hacking 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.
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. Murdoch Hacking can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Murdoch Hacking is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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.
Threats Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Murdoch Hacking 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal .
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. Murdoch Hacking needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Murdoch Hacking can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Murdoch Hacking in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Murdoch Hacking
– 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 Murdoch Hacking.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Murdoch Hacking 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.
Environmental challenges
– Murdoch Hacking 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. Murdoch Hacking can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Murdoch Hacking.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Murdoch Hacking 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Murdoch Hacking has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Murdoch Hacking 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Murdoch Hacking is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Murdoch Hacking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp: The Phone Hacking Scandal 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 Murdoch Hacking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.