Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:
This case is available in only hard copy format (HBP does not have digital distribution rights to the content). As a result, a digital Educator Copy of the case is not available through this web site.In 1997 United CEO Gerald Greenwald was appointed chairman of the national Welfare-to-Work Partnership by President Clinton and committed United to hiring from the welfare rolls. A welfare-to-work recruitment program was rapidly established and soon followed by a mentoring program. These programs were successful--United surpassed its welfare-to-work hiring targets and attained higher retention rates. With a decreasing supply of employable welfare recipients, however, the question was whether Greenwald and United could continue to provide corporate leadership in the welfare-to-work arena.
Swot Analysis of "Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ellen Pruyne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Welfare Greenwald facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Employee retention, Joint ventures, Leadership, Leadership development, Social enterprise, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, 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,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Welfare Greenwald, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Welfare Greenwald
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 Welfare Greenwald
Strengths Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Welfare Greenwald in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Welfare Greenwald is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Welfare Greenwald
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Welfare Greenwald does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Welfare Greenwald has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Welfare Greenwald to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Welfare Greenwald digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Welfare Greenwald 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
– Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Welfare Greenwald has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Welfare Greenwald 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Welfare Greenwald is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Welfare Greenwald 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 Welfare Greenwald in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Welfare Greenwald in the sector have low bargaining power. Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Welfare Greenwald to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Welfare Greenwald is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Welfare Greenwald has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Welfare Greenwald is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Welfare Greenwald 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Welfare Greenwald 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Welfare Greenwald 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. Welfare Greenwald 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Welfare Greenwald 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 - Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Welfare Greenwald products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Welfare Greenwald needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:, in the dynamic environment Welfare Greenwald has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Welfare Greenwald has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: | 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Welfare Greenwald 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 Welfare Greenwald to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Welfare Greenwald has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Welfare Greenwald to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: case study. Welfare Greenwald can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Welfare Greenwald can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Welfare Greenwald operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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 Welfare Greenwald in the consumer business. Now Welfare Greenwald can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Welfare Greenwald can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Welfare Greenwald can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Welfare Greenwald 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. Welfare Greenwald 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Welfare Greenwald can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Welfare Greenwald to increase its market reach. Welfare Greenwald 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Welfare Greenwald to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Welfare Greenwald 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Welfare Greenwald 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Welfare Greenwald 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Welfare Greenwald 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines:, Welfare Greenwald 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 .
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. Welfare Greenwald needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Welfare Greenwald has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Welfare Greenwald 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.
Increasing wage structure of Welfare Greenwald
– 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 Welfare Greenwald.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Welfare Greenwald 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.
Environmental challenges
– Welfare Greenwald 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. Welfare Greenwald can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Welfare Greenwald 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Welfare Greenwald with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Welfare Greenwald.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Welfare Greenwald is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Friendly Skies: Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines: 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 Welfare Greenwald needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
