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 energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Deronde Candidates
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Deronde Candidates does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, in the dynamic environment Deronde Candidates has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Deronde Candidates has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Deronde Candidates, firm in the HBR case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International, it seems that the employees of Deronde Candidates 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Deronde Candidates can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Deronde Candidates can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Choosing a Leader at Deronde International 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Deronde Candidates needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Deronde Candidates 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.
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.