Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations
Ericsson Hewlett Packard Telecommunications (EHPT) cases (A), (B) and (C) depict the life cycle of one joint venture through a blend of text, cartoons and an EHPT corporate video. The three-part structure provides for discussion at each stage of the joint venture's development. The cases progress with the joint venture and highlight the unique strategic and management issues that exist in a joint venture environment.
Swot Analysis of "Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations" written by Bettina Buechel, Kimberly Ferro includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Joint Ehpt facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Joint Ehpt, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Joint Ehpt 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Joint Ehpt
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 Joint Ehpt
Strengths Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Joint Ehpt in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Joint Ehpt is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Joint Ehpt 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 Bettina Buechel, Kimberly Ferro 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Joint Ehpt in the sector have low bargaining power. Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Joint Ehpt to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Joint Ehpt has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Joint Ehpt 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Joint Ehpt digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Joint Ehpt 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Joint Ehpt 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 Joint Ehpt in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Joint Ehpt 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Joint Ehpt is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Joint Ehpt 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Joint Ehpt in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Joint Ehpt has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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)
– Joint Ehpt 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Joint Ehpt 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Joint Ehpt 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Joint Ehpt 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 - Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations HBR case study mentions - Joint Ehpt 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Bettina Buechel, Kimberly Ferro suggests that, Joint Ehpt 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Joint Ehpt 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Joint Ehpt is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Joint Ehpt 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, Joint Ehpt 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. Joint Ehpt 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations, it seems that the employees of Joint Ehpt 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 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 Joint Ehpt supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Joint Ehpt vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations | 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations are -
Loyalty marketing
– Joint Ehpt 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Joint Ehpt can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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.
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 Joint Ehpt 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Joint Ehpt 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.
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 Joint Ehpt in the consumer business. Now Joint Ehpt can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Joint Ehpt can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Joint Ehpt 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. Joint Ehpt 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, Joint Ehpt 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, Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Joint Ehpt 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Joint Ehpt 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Joint Ehpt to increase its market reach. Joint Ehpt 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Joint Ehpt can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Joint Ehpt has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Joint Ehpt to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations case study. Joint Ehpt can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Joint Ehpt 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Joint Ehpt 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.
Increasing wage structure of Joint Ehpt
– 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 Joint Ehpt.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Joint Ehpt 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Joint Ehpt with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Joint Ehpt in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Joint Ehpt 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Joint Ehpt is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations, Joint Ehpt 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 .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Joint Ehpt 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. Joint Ehpt can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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 Joint Ehpt.
Regulatory challenges
– Joint Ehpt 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard: Telecommunications (B): Early Joint Venture Operations 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 Joint Ehpt needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
