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 - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, 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 -
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.
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.
Training and development
– Aesch Frisch has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High brand equity
– Aesch Frisch has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Aesch Frisch to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Aesch Frisch to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Aesch Frisch to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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 -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Aesch Frisch products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Aesch Frisch needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change, in the dynamic environment Aesch Frisch has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aesch Frisch has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change 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 Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aesch Frisch is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Aesch Frisch is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Aesch Frisch needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Aesch Frisch to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Aesch Frisch 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Aesch Frisch 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.
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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Aesch Frisch 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 - Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 -
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Aesch Frisch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Aesch Frisch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Anna Frisch at Aesch AG: Initiating lateral change case study. Aesch Frisch can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aesch Frisch 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.
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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aesch Frisch 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.
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. Aesch Frisch 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. Aesch Frisch 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Aesch Frisch can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Aesch Frisch operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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 Aesch Frisch.
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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Aesch Frisch 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.
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.
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. Aesch Frisch 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.
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.
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 .
Increasing wage structure of Aesch Frisch
– 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 Aesch Frisch.
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. Aesch Frisch can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.