Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International
Alain Deronde, the CEO of a French personal care company, has to choose a successor to head global product development from a diverse set of candidates with different backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses. The candidates include Elise Bernier, Vice President of Marketing for Skin Care Products, Antoine Lambert, General Manager of Coeur Tendre (an ex-entrepreneur whose company Deronde had bought), Yang Jianguo, Country Manager of Deronde International's Chinese subsidiary, and Yves Saurac, Vice President of Product Development for Developed Markets.
Swot Analysis of "Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International" written by Nitin Nohria, Martha Lee Spaulding includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Deronde Candidates facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Diversity, Leadership, Leading teams, Product development, Succession planning, Talent management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Deronde Candidates, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Deronde Candidates 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Deronde Candidates
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 Deronde Candidates
Strengths Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Deronde Candidates in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Deronde Candidates has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Deronde Candidates to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Deronde Candidates in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Deronde Candidates has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Deronde Candidates 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.
Training and development
– Deronde Candidates has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Deronde Candidates is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Deronde Candidates is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Deronde Candidates in the sector have low bargaining power. Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Deronde Candidates to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Deronde Candidates is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Deronde Candidates is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Deronde Candidates 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Deronde Candidates is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Deronde Candidates is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Deronde Candidates 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 Deronde Candidates in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Deronde Candidates 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Deronde Candidates 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Deronde Candidates has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Deronde Candidates has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Deronde Candidates products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Deronde Candidates needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International HBR case study mentions - Deronde Candidates 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Deronde Candidates is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Deronde Candidates needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Deronde Candidates to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Deronde Candidates is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, is just above the industry average. Deronde Candidates 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Deronde Candidates 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Deronde Candidates is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International | 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International are -
Manufacturing automation
– Deronde Candidates 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. Deronde Candidates can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Deronde Candidates can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Deronde Candidates 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, Deronde Candidates is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Deronde Candidates 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, Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Deronde Candidates 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Deronde Candidates to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Deronde Candidates 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Deronde Candidates 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.
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 Deronde Candidates 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Deronde Candidates has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Deronde Candidates to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International case study. Deronde Candidates can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Deronde Candidates 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Deronde Candidates to increase its market reach. Deronde Candidates 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 Deronde Candidates can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, Deronde Candidates 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 .
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 Deronde Candidates business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Deronde Candidates
– 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 Deronde Candidates.
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. Deronde Candidates can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Deronde Candidates in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Deronde Candidates 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Deronde Candidates with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Deronde Candidates.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Deronde Candidates 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.
Environmental challenges
– Deronde Candidates 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. Deronde Candidates can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Deronde Candidates is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Deronde Candidates 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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 Deronde Candidates needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.