Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future
Andreas Weber was selected as a high potential in a large German bank early in his career, and was posted on an international assignment to the USA. Over time, he progressed swiftly in the New York office. When he and his wife decided to return home after several years, headquarters was not able to find a position for him back in Germany that was requisite with his experience and skills. The case ends with Andreas wondering what he should do.
Swot Analysis of "Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future" written by Gunter Stahl, Mark Mendenhall includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Andreas Assignment facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Leadership development and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Andreas Assignment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Andreas Assignment
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 Andreas Assignment
Strengths Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Andreas Assignment in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Andreas Assignment is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Andreas Assignment 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Andreas Assignment is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Assignment in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Assignment is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Andreas Assignment in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Andreas Assignment are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Andreas Assignment in the sector have low bargaining power. Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Andreas Assignment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Andreas Assignment digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Andreas Assignment 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.
Analytics focus
– Andreas Assignment 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 Gunter Stahl, Mark Mendenhall 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Andreas Assignment is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future, in the dynamic environment Andreas Assignment has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Andreas Assignment has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Andreas Assignment 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Andreas Assignment 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.
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 Andreas Assignment supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Andreas Assignment vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Andreas Assignment is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Andreas Assignment needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Andreas Assignment to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Andreas Assignment 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future, is just above the industry average. Andreas Assignment 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Andreas Assignment, firm in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future HBR case study mentions - Andreas Assignment 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future | 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future are -
Loyalty marketing
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Assignment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Assignment 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.
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. Andreas Assignment 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. Andreas Assignment 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Andreas Assignment 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Andreas Assignment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Andreas Assignment can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Andreas Assignment 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Andreas Assignment can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Andreas Assignment operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Andreas Assignment can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Andreas Assignment has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Andreas Assignment 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.
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 Andreas Assignment in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Andreas Assignment with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Andreas Assignment 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. Andreas Assignment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Andreas Assignment can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Andreas Assignment 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Andreas Assignment can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Andreas Assignment 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Andreas Assignment 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (A): A Return to an Uncertain Future 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 Andreas Assignment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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