BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team
The case describes the evolution between 1999 and 2005 of an unusual innovation team within the office of the Chief Information Officer of BP. The team leader, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Phiroz Darukhanavala ("Daru"), eschewed a large group and a venture budget in favor of a small, lean team intimately engaged with BP's business units. The case described several mechanisms created by the CTO office during its early evolution, aimed at expanding executives' appreciation of emerging technology capabilities, building a network of relationships through which emerging technologies are scouted and vetted, and providing structured mechanisms for technology transfer. In late 2005 the CIO's Advisory Group challenged the CTO office to "keep reinventing yourselves." Students are asked to assume Daru's role and suggest new processes and structures to continue the evolution of the CTO office. The teaching note describes what the team actually did, and addresses questions raised at the end of the case.
Swot Analysis of "BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team" written by Robert C. Wolcott, Michael J. Lippitz includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cto Office facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, International business, Organizational culture, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cto Office, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cto Office 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cto Office
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 Cto Office
Strengths BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cto Office in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Cto Office is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cto Office 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cto Office is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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.
Analytics focus
– Cto Office 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 C. Wolcott, Michael J. Lippitz 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cto Office is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cto Office in the sector have low bargaining power. BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cto Office to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cto Office to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cto Office to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Cto Office has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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.
High brand equity
– Cto Office has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cto Office to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cto Office has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cto Office 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.
Learning organization
- Cto Office 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 Cto Office is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cto Office 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 - BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cto Office is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Cto Office needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cto Office to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Cto Office 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cto Office 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team, is just above the industry average. Cto Office 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cto Office 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 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 Cto Office supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cto Office vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 Cto Office has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cto Office 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cto Office 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. Cto Office 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cto Office is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team | 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cto Office 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cto Office has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cto Office to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team case study. Cto Office 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, Cto Office 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
– Cto Office 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cto Office 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 Cto Office to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Cto Office 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.
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. Cto Office 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, Cto Office is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cto Office 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cto Office 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.
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. Cto Office can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Cto Office in the consumer business. Now Cto Office can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cto Office 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.
Threats BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team are -
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 Cto Office business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cto Office is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Cto Office 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. Cto Office can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team, Cto Office 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 .
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. Cto Office needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Cto Office 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cto Office 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. Cto Office 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cto Office with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cto Office 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cto Office high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cto Office 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team .
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 Cto Office.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 BP's Office of the Chief Technology Officer: Driving Open Innovation through an Advocate Team 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 Cto Office needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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