Should the General Manager Be Fired? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Should the General Manager Be Fired?
In September 2008, the CEO of Rainbow Group, a Chinese group of companies specializing in environmental protection services, was in Beijing, China, thinking about his experience that evening. A few hours ago, eight senior executives from Rainbow Group's subsidiary in Hangzhou had come to Beijing requesting that the CEO fire their general manager, who had been appointed by the CEO only six months ago. This manager had taken control of the Hangzhou subsidiary with ambitious efforts to implement lean management and better cost control, but had met resistance from the other managers. The CEO was reviewing this appointment and thinking hard. What was the problem? What should he do? Fengli Mu is affiliated with China University of Political Science and Law. Tieying Huang is affiliated with Peking University.
Swot Analysis of "Should the General Manager Be Fired?" written by MU Fengli, Tieying Huang, Jiao Li includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rainbow Hangzhou facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Should the General Manager Be Fired? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leading teams, Personnel policies and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Should the General Manager Be Fired? casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Should the General Manager Be Fired?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Should the General Manager Be Fired? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rainbow Hangzhou, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Should the General Manager Be Fired? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rainbow Hangzhou
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 Rainbow Hangzhou
Strengths Should the General Manager Be Fired? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rainbow Hangzhou in Should the General Manager Be Fired? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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 MU Fengli, Tieying Huang, Jiao Li 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)
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Rainbow Hangzhou is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Should the General Manager Be Fired? case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Should the General Manager Be Fired? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rainbow Hangzhou to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rainbow Hangzhou to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Rainbow Hangzhou in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Rainbow Hangzhou digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Rainbow Hangzhou
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rainbow Hangzhou does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rainbow Hangzhou is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Should the General Manager Be Fired? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Rainbow Hangzhou has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rainbow Hangzhou to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Rainbow Hangzhou in the sector have low bargaining power. Should the General Manager Be Fired? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Rainbow Hangzhou to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Rainbow Hangzhou has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Weaknesses Should the General Manager Be Fired? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Should the General Manager Be Fired? are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rainbow Hangzhou, firm in the HBR case study Should the General Manager Be Fired? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Rainbow Hangzhou 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Rainbow Hangzhou is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Rainbow Hangzhou needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Rainbow Hangzhou to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Should the General Manager Be Fired?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Should the General Manager Be Fired? HBR case study mentions - Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Rainbow Hangzhou 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 - Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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, Rainbow Hangzhou 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. Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Should the General Manager Be Fired?, in the dynamic environment Rainbow Hangzhou has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Rainbow Hangzhou has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Opportunities Should the General Manager Be Fired? | 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
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. Rainbow Hangzhou can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rainbow Hangzhou is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Rainbow Hangzhou can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
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. Rainbow Hangzhou can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rainbow Hangzhou to increase its market reach. Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Threats Should the General Manager Be Fired? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Should the General Manager Be Fired? are -
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 Rainbow Hangzhou business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rainbow Hangzhou 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Rainbow Hangzhou has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Rainbow Hangzhou needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Rainbow Hangzhou
– 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 Rainbow Hangzhou.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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. Rainbow Hangzhou can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Rainbow Hangzhou with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rainbow Hangzhou is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Should the General Manager Be Fired?, Rainbow Hangzhou 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 .
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. Rainbow Hangzhou 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Should the General Manager Be Fired? 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 Rainbow Hangzhou needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
