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 - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , 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 -
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Deronde Candidates 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Deronde Candidates 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
– 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.
Analytics focus
– Deronde Candidates 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 Nitin Nohria, Martha Lee Spaulding 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Deronde Candidates digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Deronde Candidates 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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 -
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Deronde Candidates 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Deronde Candidates 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 - Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Deronde Candidates 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. Deronde Candidates 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Deronde Candidates 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 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Nitin Nohria, Martha Lee Spaulding suggests that, Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Deronde Candidates supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Deronde Candidates vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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 -
Loyalty marketing
– Deronde Candidates 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Deronde Candidates 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 Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Deronde Candidates 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 Deronde Candidates to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Deronde Candidates 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. Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Deronde Candidates 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.
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 Deronde Candidates in the consumer business. Now Deronde Candidates can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Deronde Candidates has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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. Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Deronde Candidates 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 Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International .
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.
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.