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Scandinavian Airlines System SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Scandinavian Airlines System


Discusses the fostering of entrepreneurship and innovation in the large corporation. It traces the development and history of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) from 1946 to the present with particular emphasis on the leadership of Jan Carlzon, CEO from 1981 to the present. He transformed the company's culture from a technical to a marketing force through personal leadership, internal corporate communications training, human resource policies and procedures, and other organizational tools.

Authors :: John J. Kao

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational culture, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Scandinavian Airlines System" written by John J. Kao includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Scandinavian Airlines facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Scandinavian Airlines System case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Scandinavian Airlines System casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Scandinavian Airlines System


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




Strengths Scandinavian Airlines System | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Scandinavian Airlines in Scandinavian Airlines System Harvard Business Review case study are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Analytics focus

– Scandinavian Airlines 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 John J. Kao 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.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

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

– Scandinavian Airlines is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Scandinavian Airlines System 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Scandinavian Airlines in the sector have low bargaining power. Scandinavian Airlines System has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Scandinavian Airlines to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Organizational Resilience of Scandinavian Airlines

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

Highly skilled collaborators

– Scandinavian Airlines 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 Scandinavian Airlines System HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Learning organization

- Scandinavian Airlines is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Scandinavian Airlines is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Scandinavian Airlines System Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Scandinavian Airlines has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Scandinavian Airlines 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 Scandinavian Airlines System - 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 Scandinavian Airlines System 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Scandinavian Airlines is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.






Weaknesses Scandinavian Airlines System | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Scandinavian Airlines System are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Scandinavian Airlines 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. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Scandinavian Airlines System, is just above the industry average. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Scandinavian Airlines System, 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Scandinavian Airlines is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Scandinavian Airlines needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Scandinavian Airlines to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Scandinavian Airlines has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Scandinavian Airlines needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Scandinavian Airlines System, in the dynamic environment Scandinavian Airlines has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Scandinavian Airlines has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines System can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Scandinavian Airlines is planning to shift buying processes online.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Scandinavian Airlines products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Scandinavian Airlines needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.




Opportunities Scandinavian Airlines System | 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 Scandinavian Airlines System are -

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Scandinavian Airlines 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.

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. Scandinavian Airlines can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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. Scandinavian Airlines 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. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Scandinavian Airlines 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 Scandinavian Airlines System - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Scandinavian Airlines to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Scandinavian Airlines to increase its market reach. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Increase in government spending

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

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Scandinavian Airlines 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.

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 Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Scandinavian Airlines 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

– Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Scandinavian Airlines 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 Scandinavian Airlines System External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Scandinavian Airlines System are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Scandinavian Airlines has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Environmental challenges

– Scandinavian Airlines 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. Scandinavian Airlines can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

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 Scandinavian Airlines in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Scandinavian Airlines needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Scandinavian Airlines 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.

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 Scandinavian Airlines business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Scandinavian Airlines is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Scandinavian Airlines can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. Scandinavian Airlines 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Scandinavian Airlines System, Scandinavian Airlines 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 .

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.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Scandinavian Airlines 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 Scandinavian Airlines System .




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines System 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 Scandinavian Airlines needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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