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Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A)


The co-founder and chief investment officer (CIO) of Red River Asset Management is trying to improve the way he communicates his firm's key benefits to clients. The CIO's central challenge is that his firm's investment philosophy focuses on quantitative analysis while most clients are only familiar with - and trust - qualitative analysis. In addition, his presentation skills are not as polished as he would like. This case allows an instructor to discuss the importance of message development and delivery in the financial context. The supplement (B) case, product # 909C14, highlights the CIO's decision and outcome.

Authors :: Denis Shackel, Ken Mark

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Customers, Human resource management, Leadership, Sales, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A)" written by Denis Shackel, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cio's Presentation facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Human resource management, Leadership, Sales and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A)


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




Strengths Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Cio's Presentation in Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Cio's Presentation 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 Cio's Presentation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Cio's Presentation are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Cio's Presentation in the sector have low bargaining power. Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cio's Presentation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Innovation driven organization

– Cio's Presentation is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Cio's Presentation 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Cio's Presentation has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of Cio's Presentation

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Cio's Presentation is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

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

– Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cio's Presentation to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cio's Presentation to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.






Weaknesses Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A), is just above the industry average. Cio's Presentation 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A), in the dynamic environment Cio's Presentation has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cio's Presentation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Cio's Presentation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A), it seems that the employees of Cio's Presentation 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, Denis Shackel, Ken Mark suggests that, Cio's Presentation 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cio's Presentation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Cio's Presentation, firm in the HBR case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Cio's Presentation 's lucrative customers.

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 Cio's Presentation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cio's Presentation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Cio's Presentation 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Cio's Presentation 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.




Opportunities Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) | 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cio's Presentation 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Cio's Presentation 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Cio's Presentation 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cio's Presentation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Loyalty marketing

– Cio's Presentation 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cio's Presentation 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, Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Increase in government spending

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

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Leveraging digital technologies

– Cio's Presentation 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.

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. Cio's Presentation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cio's Presentation 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.

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 Cio's Presentation 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Cio's Presentation 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) are -

Shortening product life cycle

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

Barriers of entry lowering

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

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. Cio's Presentation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Cio's Presentation in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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 Cio's Presentation.

Regulatory challenges

– Cio's Presentation 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Cio's Presentation 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

– Cio's Presentation 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.

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. Cio's Presentation 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Cio's Presentation 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.

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.

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

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Blair Howard: Developing an Exceptional Presentation (A) 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 Cio's Presentation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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