Case Study Description of Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson
Harvard Professor and Thinkers50 member Amy Edmondson introduces the concept of 'teaming' and discusses the critical importance of embracing it and adopting a mindset of 'execution as learning'. She defines teaming and also indicates the importance of continuous learning to effective teaming.
Swot Analysis of "Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson" written by Amy Edmondson, Karen Christensen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Teaming Edmondson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Teaming Edmondson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Teaming Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Teaming Edmondson
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 Teaming Edmondson
Strengths Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Teaming Edmondson in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Teaming Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Teaming Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Teaming Edmondson is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Teaming Edmondson has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Training and development
– Teaming Edmondson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Teaming Edmondson has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Teaming Edmondson is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Teaming Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Teaming Edmondson to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Teaming Edmondson to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Teaming Edmondson 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.
Organizational Resilience of Teaming Edmondson
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Teaming Edmondson does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Teaming Edmondson 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Teaming Edmondson 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 - Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Teaming Edmondson 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. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Teaming Edmondson is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Teaming Edmondson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Teaming Edmondson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Amy Edmondson, Karen Christensen suggests that, Teaming Edmondson 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson HBR case study mentions - Teaming Edmondson 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson, is just above the industry average. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Teaming Edmondson is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Teaming Edmondson needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Teaming Edmondson to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson | 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Teaming Edmondson 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.
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. Teaming Edmondson 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. Teaming Edmondson 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.
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 Teaming Edmondson in the consumer business. Now Teaming Edmondson can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Teaming Edmondson can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Teaming Edmondson 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.
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 Teaming Edmondson 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Teaming Edmondson is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Teaming Edmondson to increase its market reach. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Teaming Edmondson 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Teaming Edmondson 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
– Teaming Edmondson can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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.
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. Teaming Edmondson can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Teaming Edmondson 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.
Threats Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Teaming Edmondson 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.
Environmental challenges
– Teaming Edmondson 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. Teaming Edmondson can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Teaming Edmondson 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.
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 Teaming Edmondson.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Teaming Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson, Teaming Edmondson 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Teaming Edmondson 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.
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 Teaming Edmondson in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Teaming Edmondson 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.
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. Teaming Edmondson 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Teaming Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Teaming Edmondson
– 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 Teaming Edmondson.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Thought Leader Interview: Amy Edmondson 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 Teaming Edmondson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
