Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions
To ensure that acquisitions generate value, what should the priorities of the new management team be? If it starts with rationalization (closing duplicate facilities, reducing the head count), it will make rapid progress on the cost side, but risk a demotivated work force. If it emphasizes acculturation (building relationships, fostering a common culture), it will have happy employees, but little cost savings. Doing both at the same time is no answer, either. Intensive analysis of three case studies suggests a model for the acquiring firm in deciding whether to pursue the "high road" by first emphasizing human integration before concentrating on operational synergies, or the "low road" of attending to cost savings initially and subsequently focusing on relationships. Evidence supports the case for a "high road" approach when the acquired firm's key assets are R&D and knowledge-intensive. A three-phase model--initial actions, follow-up, and second wave--is offered to help top management avoid the perils on either side of an optimal integration path. Specific examples are drawn from the experiences documented in the three case studies.
Swot Analysis of "Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions" written by Julian Birkinshaw includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intensive Road facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Intellectual property, Managing people, Mergers & acquisitions, Strategic planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intensive Road, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intensive Road 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intensive Road
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 Intensive Road
Strengths Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intensive Road in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Intensive Road has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Intensive Road in the sector have low bargaining power. Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intensive Road to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Intensive Road has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Organizational Resilience of Intensive Road
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Intensive Road does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Intensive Road is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Intensive Road in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Intensive Road 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 Intensive Road 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.
High brand equity
– Intensive Road has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Intensive Road to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intensive Road to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intensive Road to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intensive Road has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intensive Road 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.
Weaknesses Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Intensive Road 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Intensive Road 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Intensive Road 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. Intensive Road 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, in the dynamic environment Intensive Road has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Intensive Road has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, it seems that the employees of Intensive Road don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Julian Birkinshaw suggests that, Intensive Road 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Intensive Road 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Intensive Road products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intensive Road needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intensive Road is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Intensive Road needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intensive Road to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Intensive Road 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.
Opportunities Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions | 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Intensive Road can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Intensive Road operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Intensive Road can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Intensive Road can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Intensive Road 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intensive Road 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, Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Intensive Road in the consumer business. Now Intensive Road can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Intensive Road 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. Intensive Road 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intensive Road 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intensive Road has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Intensive Road to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions case study. Intensive Road can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Intensive Road 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Intensive Road to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Intensive Road can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Intensive Road 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intensive Road to increase its market reach. Intensive Road 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.
Threats Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions are -
Environmental challenges
– Intensive Road 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. Intensive Road can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intensive Road has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intensive Road 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Intensive Road 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.
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 Intensive Road in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intensive Road 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intensive Road 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions .
Regulatory challenges
– Intensive Road 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.
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 Intensive Road business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Intensive Road
– 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 Intensive Road.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Intensive Road with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Intensive Road 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.
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. Intensive Road can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Intensive Road needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.