Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia
PLC is a Russian company that has successfully restructured itself and is profitable within the difficult operating environment of Russia. Now it is seeking a western joint venture partner to gain access to new technology and new markets. It has identified W.S. Atkins as this partner--Is it the right choice? A 2000 EFMD award winner.
Swot Analysis of "Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia" written by Paul Strebel, Janet Shaner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Plc Russia facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Reorganization, Risk management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Plc Russia, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Plc Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Plc Russia
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 Plc Russia
Strengths Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Plc Russia in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Plc Russia is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Plc Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Plc Russia 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 Plc Russia is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Plc Russia in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Plc Russia 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 Plc Russia in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Plc Russia has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Plc Russia to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Plc Russia is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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.
Training and development
– Plc Russia has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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.
Analytics focus
– Plc Russia 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, Janet Shaner 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.
Organizational Resilience of Plc Russia
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Plc Russia does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Plc Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Plc Russia digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Plc Russia 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.
Weaknesses Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Plc Russia 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Plc Russia is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia, it seems that the employees of Plc Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Plc Russia has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Plc Russia 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Plc Russia 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Plc Russia 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. Plc Russia 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Plc Russia is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Paul Strebel, Janet Shaner suggests that, Plc Russia is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Plc Russia has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High 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 Plc Russia supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Plc Russia vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia | 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia are -
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. Plc Russia 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. Plc Russia 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Plc Russia 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, Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Plc Russia 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Plc Russia can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Plc Russia can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Plc Russia operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Plc Russia 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Plc Russia 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 Plc Russia has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Plc Russia to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia case study. Plc Russia can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Plc Russia 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Plc Russia can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Plc Russia 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Plc Russia 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 Plc Russia to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Plc Russia 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.
Threats Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia are -
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 Plc Russia.
Increasing wage structure of Plc Russia
– 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 Plc Russia.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Plc Russia 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, Plc Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia .
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.
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. Plc Russia can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Plc Russia needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Plc Russia business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Plc Russia in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia, Plc Russia 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Plc Russia 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Plc Russia 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
– Plc Russia 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. Plc Russia can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Managing Risk Across Borders: ZEiM PLC--Doing Business in Post-Crisis Russia 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 Plc Russia needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
