Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing
Richard Bennett was faced with a serious ethical dilemma that would impact his career, family, and co-workers. Bennett, a regional vice president in the Cable Division of Centurion Media, believed that a contract executed by the new president of his division, Joseph Fowler, would cause significant financial losses for Bennett's own division and the company. Bennett suspected that Fowler might have a serious conflict of interest, since he owned stock and options in Northpark-the company with which he had negotiated the contract. Bennett was only two years from retirement. If he chose to protest the contract, it would likely have very unpleasant consequences -- including jeopardizing his own financial security. He would probably be fired. Additionally, his actions might endanger the careers of other employees and co-workers. The personal relationship between the CEO of Centurion Media, Chuck Reilly, and Fowler made Bennett's decision more difficult. When Bennett contacted the general counsel and controller in the corporate office of Centurion Media, they suggested he back off. He was surprised by their stance that the contract, which Bennett thought would be financially disastrous, was in the best interest of the company. The Controller went so far as to remind Bennett how near he was to retirement, emphasizing that he should be concerned about protecting his job. What should Bennett do about the situation he faced?
Authors :: Carolyn Conn, Aundrea K. Guess, Jonathan Hiatt
Swot Analysis of "Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing" written by Carolyn Conn, Aundrea K. Guess, Jonathan Hiatt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bennett Centurion facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emotional intelligence, Ethics and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bennett Centurion, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bennett Centurion 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bennett Centurion
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 Bennett Centurion
Strengths Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bennett Centurion in Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Bennett Centurion has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bennett Centurion to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Bennett Centurion 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 Bennett Centurion 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
– Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bennett Centurion to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bennett Centurion to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bennett Centurion digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bennett Centurion 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
– Bennett Centurion 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bennett Centurion 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bennett Centurion in the sector have low bargaining power. Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bennett Centurion to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Bennett Centurion 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 Carolyn Conn, Aundrea K. Guess, Jonathan Hiatt 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bennett Centurion in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Bennett Centurion is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bennett Centurion is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Bennett Centurion 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing, 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, Bennett Centurion 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. Bennett Centurion 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Bennett Centurion 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bennett Centurion 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 - Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing, is just above the industry average. Bennett Centurion 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Carolyn Conn, Aundrea K. Guess, Jonathan Hiatt suggests that, Bennett Centurion 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing, it seems that the employees of Bennett Centurion 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing, in the dynamic environment Bennett Centurion has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bennett Centurion has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bennett Centurion is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Bennett Centurion needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bennett Centurion to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bennett Centurion 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.
Opportunities Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing | 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bennett Centurion 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bennett Centurion 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bennett Centurion 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bennett Centurion 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bennett Centurion 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. Bennett Centurion can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Bennett Centurion 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.
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 Bennett Centurion in the consumer business. Now Bennett Centurion can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bennett Centurion to increase its market reach. Bennett Centurion 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.
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. Bennett Centurion 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. Bennett Centurion 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bennett Centurion has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bennett Centurion to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing case study. Bennett Centurion can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bennett Centurion can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Bennett Centurion can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing are -
Increasing wage structure of Bennett Centurion
– 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 Bennett Centurion.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bennett Centurion has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bennett Centurion 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.
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. Bennett Centurion can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bennett Centurion 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bennett Centurion 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bennett Centurion 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Bennett Centurion needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bennett Centurion 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bennett Centurion is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Bennett Centurion 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.
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 Bennett Centurion business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Centurion Media: Doing the Right Thing 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 Bennett Centurion needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.