An organization’s exit strategy
Overview
You are a business development manager in a life sciences organization based in the Midwest. You report to the vice president (VP) of business development. While the organization has shown constant growth and profitability since its inception in 1999, the owners have decided that it is time to sell. The VP has called on you to join the strategic planning team to assess the organization’s exit strategy and make recommendations to the board of directors.
The proposed exit strategy means that the organization will be acquired by another one, which will be a major transformation for the organization and its employees. In order to support the employees through the upcoming acquisition, the planning team wants to understand how they are likely to respond to organizational change. To that end, they decide to ask employees to complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of their skills as they relate to change readiness. As a member of the planning team, you are one of the first people asked to complete a SWOT analysis and evaluate your change readiness.
Prompt
First, reflect on your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and how they help you accept or resist change. Then, perform a personal SWOT analysis and record the results in a Word document. Describe how you think this analysis impacts your change readiness skills to manage and lead the organizational change in the course scenario.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Strengths: Identify at least two strengths that support your readiness for change.
Explain how they support your readiness for change.
Weaknesses: Identify at least two weaknesses that might get in the way of change.
Explain how they can impact your response to change.
Opportunities: Identify at least two opportunities you can use to leverage your strengths.
Explain how you can use these opportunities to develop your skills.
Threats: Identify at least two threats that you would like to minimize.
Explain how you can minimize these threats and how this will help you develop your skills.
Change Readiness: Explain what your SWOT analysis reveals regarding your change readiness for the proposed acquisition of the organization in the course scenario.
Are you ready to accept organizational change that is likely to arise from the proposed acquisition?
Are you ready to initiate and lead the change efforts for the organization in the scenario? Why or why not?
Sample Solution
An entrepreneur’s business exit strategy is a strategic plan to sell his or her company’s ownership to investors or another company. An exit strategy allows a business owner to reduce or liquidate his ownership in a company while still making a significant profit if the company is successful. An exit strategy (or “exit plan”) allows the entrepreneur to limit losses if the business is not successful. An investor, such as a venture capitalist, can employ an exit strategy to plan for a cash-out of an investment. Trading exit methods employed in securities markets should not be confused with business exit strategies.
