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 - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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 -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Intensive Road 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 Intensive Road in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intensive Road is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Intensive Road 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 Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Intensive Road 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 Intensive Road is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Analytics focus
– Intensive Road 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 Julian Birkinshaw 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 Intensive Road digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Intensive Road 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.
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 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 Intensive Road supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intensive Road vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intensive Road is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Intensive Road 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.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, is just above the industry average. Intensive Road 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intensive Road 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions 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 Intensive Road has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Intensive Road 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Intensive Road 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.
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.
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. Intensive Road can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Intensive Road 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Intensive Road 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 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 -
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.
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 .
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Intensive Road can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisitions, Intensive Road 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 .
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.
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.
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 Intensive Road.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Intensive Road 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Intensive Road is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
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.