Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision
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 (B): His Decision" 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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision
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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision | 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 (B): His Decision Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Andreas Assignment to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Andreas Assignment to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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 (B): His Decision are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Andreas Assignment
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Andreas Assignment does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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 (B): His Decision 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Andreas Assignment has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Andreas Assignment 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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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 (B): His Decision Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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 (B): His Decision case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Strong track record of project management
– Andreas Assignment is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Andreas Assignment has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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.
Weaknesses Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision | 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 (B): His Decision are -
Need for greater diversity
– Andreas Assignment 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Andreas Assignment 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Andreas Assignment is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Andreas Assignment is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Andreas Assignment has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 (B): His Decision, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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 Andreas Assignment 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision, 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.
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision, 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.
Opportunities Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision | 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 (B): His Decision are -
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.
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 Andreas Assignment in the consumer business. Now Andreas Assignment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Andreas Assignment 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 Andreas Assignment to increase its market reach. Andreas Assignment 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Andreas Assignment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Andreas Assignment to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision case study. Andreas Assignment can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Andreas Assignment can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Andreas Assignment 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.
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.
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.
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.
Threats Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision 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.
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.
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.
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. Andreas Assignment needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Andreas Assignment
– 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 Andreas Assignment.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision, Andreas Assignment 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Andreas Assignment is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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.
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 Andreas Assignment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision 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 (B): His Decision 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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