Case Study Description of Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions
This is one exercise in a 4-part series entitled Job Offer Negotiation Exercises. This exercise gives participants the opportunity to act as the Maximum Motivation candidate in a job offer negotiation. The purpose of this role-play case series is to give participants the opportunity to experience a job offer negotiation as both the job candidate and the employer. The exercise involves two distinct negotiation scenarios, allowing participants the opportunity to play both roles and to practice and apply concepts and skills learned in the first negotiation session. If desired, only one of the two scenarios can be negotiated if only one hour is available for the activity. One negotiation occurs for a job with a company called Maximum Motivation (A and B cases) and the other is for a job with a company called People Power (C and D cases). Participants work in pairs, with one playing the role of the job candidate and the other playing the role of the company representative. In both scenarios, the company considers the candidate to be the top applicant and would like to finalize the hire. Also in both scenarios, the job candidate has an acceptable alternative - another job offer from a rival company called PerformanceMax - and needs to accept or decline the PerformanceMax offer the next day. Thus, it is important that both sides reach an acceptable employment arrangement during this negotiation, or the candidate will not be hired. When both sides have negotiated an acceptable agreement, or when either partner decides to end the negotiation, the negotiation is over. After group discussion, participants find a different partner who last played the opposite role, switch roles, and complete the second negotiation scenario.
Swot Analysis of "Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions" written by E Weinberg, Jean Phillips includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Negotiation Candidate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Negotiation Candidate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Negotiation Candidate 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Negotiation Candidate
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 Negotiation Candidate
Strengths Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Negotiation Candidate in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Negotiation Candidate 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Negotiation Candidate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Negotiation Candidate is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Negotiation Candidate 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Negotiation Candidate 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Negotiation Candidate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Negotiation Candidate 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 E Weinberg, Jean Phillips 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Negotiation Candidate in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Negotiation Candidate 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Negotiation Candidate is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Negotiation Candidate has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Negotiation Candidate to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Negotiation Candidate has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Negotiation Candidate 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Negotiation Candidate is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Negotiation Candidate has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Negotiation Candidate, firm in the HBR case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Negotiation Candidate 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Negotiation Candidate products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Negotiation Candidate needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions, is just above the industry average. Negotiation Candidate 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Negotiation Candidate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Negotiation Candidate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Negotiation Candidate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions, in the dynamic environment Negotiation Candidate has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Negotiation Candidate has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions | 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Negotiation Candidate 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Negotiation Candidate 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, Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Negotiation Candidate 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.
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 Negotiation Candidate 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Negotiation Candidate to increase its market reach. Negotiation Candidate 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Negotiation Candidate is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Negotiation Candidate can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Negotiation Candidate 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. Negotiation Candidate 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Negotiation Candidate can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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. Negotiation Candidate can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Negotiation Candidate has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Negotiation Candidate to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions case study. Negotiation Candidate can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Negotiation Candidate can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Negotiation Candidate 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.
Threats Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Negotiation Candidate 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Negotiation Candidate 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.
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 Negotiation Candidate.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Negotiation Candidate is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Negotiation Candidate with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Negotiation Candidate 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.
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 Negotiation Candidate in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Negotiation Candidate can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions, Negotiation Candidate 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Negotiation Candidate 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions .
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. Negotiation Candidate 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
– Negotiation Candidate 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Job Offer Negotiation Exercise A: Maximum Motivation Candidate Instructions 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 Negotiation Candidate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
