Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment" 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Joint Ehpt in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment Harvard Business Review case study are -
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment - 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
– 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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Joint Ehpt
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Joint Ehpt does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Joint Ehpt is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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
– Joint Ehpt is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Joint Ehpt is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Joint Ehpt to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Joint Ehpt to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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.
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.
Weaknesses Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Joint Ehpt, firm in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Joint Ehpt 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Joint Ehpt is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment, is just above the industry average. Joint Ehpt 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Joint Ehpt is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Joint Ehpt needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Joint Ehpt to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 Joint Ehpt has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Joint Ehpt products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Joint Ehpt needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Joint Ehpt 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.
Opportunities Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment | 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Joint Ehpt 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 Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Joint Ehpt to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Joint Ehpt 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Joint Ehpt can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Joint Ehpt operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Joint Ehpt is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Joint Ehpt 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.
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Joint Ehpt can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Joint Ehpt 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.
Threats Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment are -
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment .
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. Joint Ehpt needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Joint Ehpt 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.
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 Joint Ehpt business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Joint Ehpt has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Joint Ehpt 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.
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.
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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment, 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 .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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 (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment 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.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (C): Joint Venture Evaluation and Adjustment