SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility
Since 2006, SK Telecom has worked to develop strategic corporate social responsibility programs that are aligned with its business operations and corporate mission. The case tracks the original assessment process the company went through and successive organizational design efforts to align its CSR strategy and implementation architecture. In 2009, the company is going through reorganization, and the protagonist is considering how well the existing structure of SK Telecom's CSR efforts supports its strategy. The key dilemma he is faced with is whether to change the design of the CSR organization, or perhaps revise the CSR strategy to better match the existing organizational architecture.
Authors :: Christopher Marquis, Kwang Y. Ryu, Philip Mirvis, Bobbi Thomason
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Leadership, Organizational structure, Social enterprise, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility" written by Christopher Marquis, Kwang Y. Ryu, Philip Mirvis, Bobbi Thomason includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sk Csr facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational structure, Social enterprise, Social responsibility and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sk Csr, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sk Csr 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sk Csr
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 Sk Csr
Strengths SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sk Csr in SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Sk Csr 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sk Csr 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.
Organizational Resilience of Sk Csr
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sk Csr does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sk Csr is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sk Csr in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sk Csr digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sk Csr 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sk Csr 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Sk Csr 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 Sk Csr in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Sk Csr 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 Christopher Marquis, Kwang Y. Ryu, Philip Mirvis, Bobbi Thomason 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sk Csr 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.
High brand equity
– Sk Csr has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sk Csr to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sk Csr is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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.
Weaknesses SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sk Csr, firm in the HBR case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sk Csr 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. Sk Csr 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sk Csr is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility, in the dynamic environment Sk Csr has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sk Csr has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility, it seems that the employees of Sk Csr 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Christopher Marquis, Kwang Y. Ryu, Philip Mirvis, Bobbi Thomason suggests that, Sk Csr 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, Sk Csr 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility, is just above the industry average. Sk Csr 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Sk Csr 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility HBR case study mentions - Sk Csr 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sk Csr 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 - SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility | 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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. Sk Csr 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. Sk Csr 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.
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 Sk Csr in the consumer business. Now Sk Csr 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. Sk Csr can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Sk Csr 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sk Csr has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sk Csr to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility case study. Sk Csr can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sk Csr can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sk Csr to increase its market reach. Sk Csr 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sk Csr 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 Sk Csr 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sk Csr 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sk Csr to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Sk Csr 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sk Csr can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sk Csr operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sk Csr is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sk Csr 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility .
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.
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. Sk Csr 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sk Csr is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sk Csr has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sk Csr 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sk Csr 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sk Csr 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
– Sk Csr 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. Sk Csr can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sk Csr with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Sk Csr business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Sk Csr 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
– Sk Csr 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sk Csr 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility 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 Sk Csr needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
