Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program
This case describes Hewlett Packard Enteprise's "Dandelion Program," which has developed a new service offering for the company's clients by drawing on the special talents of people with autism. The company has deployed "pods" organized around 8 or 9 employees with autism, to function as high performance mini-ecosystems, which have turned out to be 30% more effective than average service teams (in some areas). The case centers around questions of how to adapt this successful model to new demands in a different service domain, specifically, cybersecurity and defense related areas. The case also explores how the company is innovating and refining its assessment and training processes in support of the program.
Swot Analysis of "Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program" written by Gary P. Pisano, Robert D. Austin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dandelion Autism facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Diversity, Leadership, Supply chain, Talent management, Technology and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dandelion Autism, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dandelion Autism 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dandelion Autism
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 Dandelion Autism
Strengths Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dandelion Autism in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Dandelion Autism is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dandelion Autism 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Dandelion Autism has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Dandelion Autism to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Dandelion Autism
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dandelion Autism does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dandelion Autism in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Learning organization
- Dandelion Autism 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 Dandelion Autism is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dandelion Autism 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dandelion Autism is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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.
Training and development
– Dandelion Autism has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dandelion Autism digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dandelion Autism 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
– Dandelion Autism 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 Gary P. Pisano, Robert D. Austin 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program, in the dynamic environment Dandelion Autism has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dandelion Autism has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dandelion Autism 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Dandelion Autism 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dandelion Autism 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dandelion Autism is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dandelion Autism is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Dandelion Autism needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dandelion Autism to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Dandelion Autism 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dandelion Autism products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dandelion Autism needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Dandelion Autism 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dandelion Autism 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.
Opportunities Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program | 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dandelion Autism 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Dandelion Autism can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Dandelion Autism has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Dandelion Autism to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program case study. Dandelion Autism can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dandelion Autism can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dandelion Autism 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 Dandelion Autism to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Dandelion Autism 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. Dandelion Autism 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dandelion Autism to increase its market reach. Dandelion Autism 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dandelion Autism 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.
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. Dandelion Autism can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Dandelion Autism 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, Dandelion Autism is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dandelion Autism 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dandelion Autism to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Dandelion Autism 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.
Threats Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program are -
Increasing wage structure of Dandelion Autism
– 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 Dandelion Autism.
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.
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 Dandelion Autism in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Dandelion Autism business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Dandelion Autism 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Dandelion Autism with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dandelion Autism 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program, Dandelion Autism 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dandelion Autism 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dandelion Autism is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dandelion Autism 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dandelion Autism 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program 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 Dandelion Autism needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
