Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change
Anna Frisch had tried to initiate change at Aesch AG, a large global provider of medical devices for the healthcare industry. As a marketing director, she had identified major shifts in German healthcare which demanded that Aesch changed its ways of approaching customers. Instead of targeting the specific needs of doctors in hospitals, Aesch should address the new decision makers: the CEOs, CFOs, or CIOs of hospitals, who followed a different buying logic.
Swot Analysis of "Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change" written by Urs Mueller, Ulf Schaefer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Aesch Frisch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Communication, Health, Influence, Organizational structure, Strategy execution and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aesch Frisch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aesch Frisch 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aesch Frisch
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 Aesch Frisch
Strengths Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aesch Frisch in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Aesch Frisch 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Aesch Frisch 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Aesch Frisch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Aesch Frisch 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 Aesch Frisch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Aesch Frisch 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 Urs Mueller, Ulf Schaefer 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Aesch Frisch has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aesch Frisch 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Aesch Frisch digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Aesch Frisch 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Aesch Frisch 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Aesch Frisch is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aesch Frisch 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change - 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 lead change in Organizational Development field
– Aesch Frisch 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 Aesch Frisch in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change are -
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 Aesch Frisch supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Aesch Frisch vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Urs Mueller, Ulf Schaefer suggests that, Aesch Frisch is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change HBR case study mentions - Aesch Frisch 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Aesch Frisch has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Aesch Frisch even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Aesch Frisch 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Aesch Frisch is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Aesch Frisch 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Aesch Frisch 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Aesch Frisch 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Aesch Frisch has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Aesch Frisch, firm in the HBR case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change | 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change are -
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. Aesch Frisch 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
– Aesch Frisch 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.
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 Aesch Frisch in the consumer business. Now Aesch Frisch can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Aesch Frisch to increase its market reach. Aesch Frisch 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aesch Frisch is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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.
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 Aesch Frisch 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Aesch Frisch 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Aesch Frisch 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aesch Frisch to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Aesch Frisch 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.
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. Aesch Frisch can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Aesch Frisch 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Aesch Frisch can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Aesch Frisch can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Aesch Frisch with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Aesch Frisch in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Aesch Frisch 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Aesch Frisch has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aesch Frisch 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
– Aesch Frisch 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.
Environmental challenges
– Aesch Frisch 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. Aesch Frisch can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Aesch Frisch 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change .
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aesch Frisch is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Aesch Frisch business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change, Aesch Frisch 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
– Aesch Frisch 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Aesch Frisch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
