Swot Analysis of "ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001)" written by Paul Strebel, Nanci Govinder includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lindahl Abb facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations, Organizational structure, Reorganization and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lindahl Abb, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lindahl Abb 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lindahl Abb
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 Lindahl Abb
Strengths ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lindahl Abb in ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lindahl Abb are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lindahl Abb in the sector have low bargaining power. ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lindahl Abb to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Lindahl Abb
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Lindahl Abb does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Lindahl Abb 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 Paul Strebel, Nanci Govinder 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Lindahl Abb 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.
High brand equity
– Lindahl Abb has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Lindahl Abb to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lindahl Abb is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Lindahl Abb 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 Lindahl Abb is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Lindahl Abb has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Lindahl Abb 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Lindahl Abb in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lindahl Abb to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lindahl Abb to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Lindahl Abb 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 Lindahl Abb in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lindahl Abb is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Lindahl Abb needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lindahl Abb to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Lindahl Abb 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Lindahl Abb, firm in the HBR case study ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001), it seems that the employees of Lindahl Abb 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 Lindahl Abb has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Lindahl Abb supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Lindahl Abb vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Lindahl Abb 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Lindahl Abb 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. Lindahl Abb 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Lindahl Abb 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001), is just above the industry average. Lindahl Abb 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) HBR case study mentions - Lindahl Abb 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) | 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Lindahl Abb 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Lindahl Abb 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lindahl Abb has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lindahl Abb to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) case study. Lindahl Abb can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lindahl Abb 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lindahl Abb can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lindahl Abb can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lindahl Abb operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Lindahl Abb to increase its market reach. Lindahl Abb 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Lindahl Abb 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 Lindahl Abb to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Lindahl Abb 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Lindahl Abb to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lindahl Abb 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, ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Lindahl Abb 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Lindahl Abb 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. Lindahl Abb 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.
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 Lindahl Abb 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.
Threats ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Lindahl Abb with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Lindahl Abb 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lindahl Abb has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lindahl Abb needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
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 Lindahl Abb.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lindahl Abb 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.
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. Lindahl Abb needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Lindahl Abb 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.
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 Lindahl Abb in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lindahl Abb 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.
Environmental challenges
– Lindahl Abb 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. Lindahl Abb can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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
– Lindahl Abb 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lindahl Abb is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 ABB (B): The Lindahl Era (1997-2001) 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 Lindahl Abb needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.