TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management
Looks at a change effort initiated by a human resources manager within a division of TRW. The effort utilizes a change process to try to deal with some of the division's issues around organizational effectiveness, especially that of a long-term strategy. In so doing, the situation portrays some of the fundamental hurdles in creating change.
Swot Analysis of "TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management" written by Michael Beer, Gregory C. Rogers includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trw Trw's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trw Trw's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trw Trw's 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trw Trw's
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 Trw Trw's
Strengths TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trw Trw's in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Trw Trw's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Trw Trw's 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Trw Trw's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Trw Trw's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Trw Trw's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Trw Trw's 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 Trw Trw's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Trw Trw's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Trw Trw's 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Trw Trw's 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Trw Trw's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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.
Analytics focus
– Trw Trw's 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 Michael Beer, Gregory C. Rogers 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Trw Trw's 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Trw Trw's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Trw Trw's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management HBR case study mentions - Trw Trw's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Trw Trw's 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, Trw Trw's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Trw Trw's 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 - TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management, in the dynamic environment Trw Trw's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Trw Trw's 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 Trw Trw's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Trw Trw's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Trw Trw's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Trw Trw's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 Trw Trw's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Trw Trw's 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. Trw Trw's 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Trw Trw's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Trw Trw's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management | 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Trw Trw's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trw Trw's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Trw Trw's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Trw Trw's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Trw Trw's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Trw Trw's 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.
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 Trw Trw's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trw Trw's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Trw Trw's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Trw Trw's in the consumer business. Now Trw Trw's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Trw Trw's 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. Trw Trw's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Trw Trw's 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. Trw Trw's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Trw Trw's 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 Trw Trw's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management are -
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. Trw Trw's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Trw Trw's is facing in Organizational Development 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 Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Trw Trw's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Trw Trw's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Trw Trw's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Trw Trw's 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trw Trw's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Trw Trw's.
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 Trw Trw's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management, Trw Trw's 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Trw Trw's 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.
Environmental challenges
– Trw Trw's 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. Trw Trw's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Increasing wage structure of Trw Trw's
– 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 Trw Trw's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management 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 Trw Trw's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.