Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders

Developing strong leadership within the organization is one of the most valuable pursuits any firm can undertake. Considering the many demands on the resources of leaders, developmental opportunities must be efficient and effective to truly impact leadership ability. Comic books and their role in storytelling can offer unique insights regarding core leadership characteristics underlying great sales leadership and act as a tool for growth in leadership capabilities. With the recent explosion in superhero awareness through blockbuster movie releases and increased comic book readership, this article presents a series of leadership characteristics and their embodiment within superheroes. A list of top sales leader qualities from a panel of practicing sales professionals is first provided. Specific examples of these leadership qualities as evidenced by a particular superhero are then offered. These examples are solicited from a panel of superhero subject matter experts and yield insight into how managers can use superhero narratives as a learning tool. We summarize the findings from our research and propose specific managerial challenges and actionable recommendations offered by the exemplars we review.

Authors :: Adam Rapp, Jessica Ogilvie, Daniel G. Bachrach

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Leadership development, Managing people, Sales, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders" written by Adam Rapp, Jessica Ogilvie, Daniel G. Bachrach includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Superhero Comic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership development, Managing people, Sales and Leadership & Managing People.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Superhero Comic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Superhero Comic 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Superhero Comic
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 Superhero Comic

---

Strengths Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Superhero Comic in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to recruit top talent

– Superhero Comic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Superhero Comic 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.

Superior customer experience

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Superhero Comic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Superhero Comic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Training and development

– Superhero Comic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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.

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Superhero Comic 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 Superhero Comic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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.

Learning organization

- Superhero Comic 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 Superhero Comic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Analytics focus

– Superhero Comic 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 Adam Rapp, Jessica Ogilvie, Daniel G. Bachrach 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.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

– Superhero Comic 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

---

---

Weaknesses Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Superhero Comic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Superhero Comic 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 - Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Superhero Comic 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders, is just above the industry average. Superhero Comic 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders, 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Superhero Comic 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders, in the dynamic environment Superhero Comic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Superhero Comic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Superhero Comic 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Superhero Comic 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Adam Rapp, Jessica Ogilvie, Daniel G. Bachrach suggests that, Superhero Comic 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Superhero Comic is planning to shift buying processes online.

---

Opportunities Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders | 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Superhero Comic 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Superhero Comic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Superhero Comic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Superhero Comic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Superhero Comic 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 Superhero Comic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Loyalty marketing

– Superhero Comic 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Superhero Comic 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Superhero Comic 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.

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 Superhero Comic 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Superhero Comic 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Superhero Comic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Developing new processes and practices

– Superhero Comic 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Superhero Comic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Superhero Comic 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.

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

---

Threats Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders are -

Regulatory challenges

– Superhero Comic 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Superhero Comic 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders, Superhero Comic 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 .

Environmental challenges

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

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 Superhero Comic in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Superhero Comic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Superhero Comic 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Superhero Comic 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders .

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 Superhero Comic.

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.

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 Superhero Comic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Superhero Comic 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.

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. Superhero Comic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Superhero Comic is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Sales leadership icons and models: How comic book superheroes would make great sales leaders 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 Superhero Comic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---