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Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations


Provides a 7S framework to complement the McKinsey 7S framework. Focuses on some of the critical choices that must be made in implementing change--Strategic Intent, Substance, Scale, Scope, Speed, Sequence, and Style. Overall, the note argues that these choices must be made so that they are coherent and robust.

Authors :: Nitin Nohria, Rakesh Khurana

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Communication, Leadership, Managing people, Time management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations" written by Nitin Nohria, Rakesh Khurana includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that 7s Choices facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Leadership, Managing people, Time management and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the 7s Choices, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which 7s Choices 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of 7s Choices
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 7s Choices




Strengths Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of 7s Choices in Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations Harvard Business Review case study are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– 7s Choices has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. 7s Choices 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– 7s Choices 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For 7s Choices digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. 7s Choices 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of 7s Choices in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Training and development

– 7s Choices has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled 7s Choices to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped 7s Choices to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of 7s Choices

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that 7s Choices does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the 7s Choices 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of 7s Choices in the sector have low bargaining power. Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps 7s Choices to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High brand equity

– 7s Choices has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled 7s Choices to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– 7s Choices 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.






Weaknesses Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations are -

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Nitin Nohria, Rakesh Khurana suggests that, 7s Choices 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, 7s Choices 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations, in the dynamic environment 7s Choices has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. 7s Choices has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, 7s Choices is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Lack of clear differentiation of 7s Choices products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, 7s Choices needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 7s Choices 's lucrative customers.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at 7s Choices 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, 7s Choices 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of 7s Choices, firm in the HBR case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as 7s Choices is planning to shift buying processes online.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 7s Choices has relatively successful track record of launching new products.




Opportunities Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations | 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations are -

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects 7s Choices 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

– 7s Choices 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help 7s Choices to increase its market reach. 7s Choices will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– 7s Choices 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help 7s Choices to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, 7s Choices 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, Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at 7s Choices 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.

Loyalty marketing

– 7s Choices 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, 7s Choices is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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.

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. 7s Choices can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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. 7s Choices can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Developing new processes and practices

– 7s Choices 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.

Buying journey improvements

– 7s Choices can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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.

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. 7s Choices 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. 7s Choices 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.




Threats Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents 7s Choices with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that 7s Choices 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 7s Choices business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 7s Choices 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on 7s Choices 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.

Environmental challenges

– 7s Choices 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. 7s Choices can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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. 7s Choices can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– 7s Choices has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, 7s Choices 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.

Increasing wage structure of 7s Choices

– 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 7s Choices.

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 7s Choices.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for 7s Choices 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 Executing Change: Seven Key Considerations 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 7s Choices needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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