Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy
In July 2014, the managing partner and co-founder of Netherlands-based Expatica Communications B.V. (Expatica) received tragic news. His close friend and business partner had been travelling on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine. The two partners had worked closely together at Expatica for over 15 years. Three days after receiving the news of his friend's sudden death, the surviving partner found himself alone in his office trying to work out how to cope with the situation and, in particular, how to deal with the employees who were due to return to the office the next day. How should he prepare himself for the next morning? How should he approach the meeting with the employees, and what should he say? What actions should he take regarding the firm in the short and medium term? Christopher Williams is affiliated with Durham University. Wendelien van Eerde is affiliated with Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Authors :: Christopher Williams, Wendelien van Eerde
Swot Analysis of "Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy" written by Christopher Williams, Wendelien van Eerde includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Expatica Van facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices,
wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Expatica Van, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Expatica Van 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Expatica Van
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 Expatica Van
Strengths Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Expatica Van in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Expatica Van 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Expatica Van in the sector have low bargaining power. Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Expatica Van to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Expatica Van has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Expatica Van 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 Expatica Van in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Expatica Van 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Expatica Van 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 Williams, Wendelien van Eerde 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Expatica Van is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Expatica Van digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Expatica Van 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.
Organizational Resilience of Expatica Van
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Expatica Van does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Expatica Van is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Expatica Van is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Expatica Van is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Expatica Van 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy, is just above the industry average. Expatica Van 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Expatica Van 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Expatica Van 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 - Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Van has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Expatica Van is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Expatica Van needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Expatica Van to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Christopher Williams, Wendelien van Eerde suggests that, Expatica Van 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy HBR case study mentions - Expatica Van 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 Expatica Van products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Expatica Van needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Expatica Van 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy, in the dynamic environment Expatica Van has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Expatica Van has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy | 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Expatica Van 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Expatica Van can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Expatica Van can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Expatica Van 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Expatica Van 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.
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. Expatica Van can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Expatica Van has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Expatica Van to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy case study. Expatica Van can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Expatica Van 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Expatica Van 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 Expatica Van to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Expatica Van 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Expatica Van can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Van 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Expatica Van to increase its market reach. Expatica Van 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.
Threats Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Expatica Van 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Expatica Van 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 Expatica Van 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.
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. Expatica Van can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Expatica Van with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Expatica Van 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Expatica Van is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Expatica Van 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. Expatica Van can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Expatica Van 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.
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 Expatica Van business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Expatica Van 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.
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. Expatica Van 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.
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. Expatica Van needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Communications: Leading through Tragedy 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 Expatica Van needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
