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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (B): His Decision HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
High brand equity
– Andreas Assignment has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Andreas Assignment to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision, it seems that the employees of Andreas Assignment 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.
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.
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 (B): His Decision needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Andreas Assignment products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Andreas Assignment needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Andreas Assignment 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 - Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Andreas Assignment is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Andreas Weber's Reward for Success in an International Assignment (B): His Decision 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (B): His Decision - 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.
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.
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 -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Andreas Assignment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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