Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize
This series of six cases (labeled A through F) presents the various dilemmas that arose in the spring of 2001 when engineers at the Seattle-based Boeing Company, unhappy with management decisions, contemplated and undertook a strike, the first "white-collar" work stoppage in the history of American business.
Authors :: Pat Werhane, Michael Gorman, Jenny Mead, Mary L Cummings
Swot Analysis of "Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize" written by Pat Werhane, Michael Gorman, Jenny Mead, Mary L Cummings includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Boeing Unionize facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Labor and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Boeing Unionize, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Boeing Unionize
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 Boeing Unionize
Strengths Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Boeing Unionize in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Boeing Unionize has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Boeing Unionize to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Boeing Unionize has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Boeing Unionize 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Boeing Unionize is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Boeing Unionize digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Boeing Unionize 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Boeing Unionize is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing Unionize in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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.
Training and development
– Boeing Unionize has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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
– Boeing Unionize is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Boeing Unionize in the sector have low bargaining power. Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Boeing Unionize to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Boeing Unionize 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 - Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Boeing Unionize 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Pat Werhane, Michael Gorman, Jenny Mead, Mary L Cummings suggests that, Boeing Unionize 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Boeing Unionize 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. Boeing Unionize 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing Unionize has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Boeing Unionize 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Boeing Unionize is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Boeing Unionize needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Boeing Unionize to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Boeing Unionize, firm in the HBR case study Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize, it seems that the employees of Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize, in the dynamic environment Boeing Unionize has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Boeing Unionize has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize HBR case study mentions - Boeing Unionize takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Opportunities Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize | 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Boeing Unionize 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, Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Boeing Unionize can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Boeing Unionize 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Boeing Unionize 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.
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. Boeing Unionize can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Boeing Unionize can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Boeing Unionize operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing Unionize to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Boeing Unionize to increase its market reach. Boeing Unionize 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Boeing Unionize 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Boeing Unionize 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Boeing Unionize 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Boeing Unionize is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Boeing Unionize 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.
Threats Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Boeing Unionize 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 wage structure of Boeing Unionize
– 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 Boeing Unionize.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Boeing Unionize is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Boeing Unionize 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
– Boeing Unionize 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.
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. Boeing Unionize 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Boeing Unionize 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.
Environmental challenges
– Boeing Unionize 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. Boeing Unionize can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Boeing Unionize needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Boeing Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize .
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 Boeing Unionize business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Boeing Unionize 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
– Boeing Unionize 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing: No Nerds, No Birds (E): The Right Not to Unionize 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 Boeing Unionize needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
