The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program
This case examines a distinctive leadership development program within the World Economic Forum. The program, born out of the conviction that the complexity of global challenges at the beginning of the 21st century required a new generation of global leaders, recruited a small number of "high potential" young leaders from around the world as "Global Leadership Fellows" each year. During the three-year program, Fellows combined a position at the Forum with formal classroom training modules, one-on-one coaching, peer mentoring, and extensive assessment. The case explores the Forum's understanding of its role in the world, the vision of leadership that animates the program, and the structure and content of the program. It asks how successful the program has been in providing the kind of transformational experience it envisions and whether it could or should be replicated by other organizations.
Swot Analysis of "The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program" written by Rakesh Khurana, Eric Baldwin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fellows Program facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Globalization, Government, Leadership, Leadership development, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fellows Program, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fellows Program
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fellows Program
Strengths The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fellows Program in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Fellows Program has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fellows Program to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fellows Program to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Fellows Program 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 Fellows Program in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Fellows Program is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fellows Program in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fellows Program digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fellows Program 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Fellows Program has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fellows Program 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fellows Program in the sector have low bargaining power. The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fellows Program to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 Fellows Program 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 Fellows Program has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Fellows Program 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fellows Program products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fellows Program needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fellows Program is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Fellows Program 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fellows Program is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Fellows Program needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fellows Program to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fellows Program 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 - The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Fellows Program supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Fellows Program vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fellows Program is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program | 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program are -
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 Fellows Program in the consumer business. Now Fellows Program can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Fellows Program can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Fellows Program has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Fellows Program to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program case study. Fellows Program can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fellows Program can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fellows Program can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Fellows Program can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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
– Fellows Program 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fellows Program 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, The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fellows Program to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fellows Program 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 Fellows Program to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fellows Program 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
– Fellows Program 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fellows Program is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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.
Threats The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program are -
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. Fellows Program 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.
Increasing wage structure of Fellows Program
– 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 Fellows Program.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fellows Program 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
– Fellows Program 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program, Fellows Program may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program .
Environmental challenges
– Fellows Program 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. Fellows Program can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fellows Program 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
– Fellows Program 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.
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.
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 Fellows Program business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fellows Program in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program 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 Fellows Program needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
