Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B)
Outlines strategy for a change management scenario. Issues include subsidiary/headquarters relationships, multicultural groups, dynamic industry conditions, and culture and personality as driving forces in a corporate turnaround. Having grown as much as possible in its Scandinavian home markets, House of Prince aims to make its Prince cigarette brand as dominant a competitor in the emerging Baltic markets as it is in Denmark. The company sends Lars Kruse Thomsen to Warsaw as the newly appointed director of sales and marketing at House of Prince's Polish operation. What he finds upon his arrival--organizational inertia, a leadership vacuum, and unreliable sales and performance data--shocks him. Thomsen realizes that to reverse the company's precipitous decline, he must fix what is at the root of its malaise. Under his direction, the sales and marketing department will lead the way.
Swot Analysis of "Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B)" written by Joe Distefano, Colleen Lief includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Thomsen Kruse facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Leadership, Marketing, Organizational culture, Reorganization, Sales, Strategy execution and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Thomsen Kruse, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Thomsen Kruse 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Thomsen Kruse
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 Thomsen Kruse
Strengths Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Thomsen Kruse in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Thomsen Kruse 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Thomsen Kruse 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Thomsen Kruse in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Thomsen Kruse 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.
Organizational Resilience of Thomsen Kruse
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Thomsen Kruse does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Thomsen Kruse to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Thomsen Kruse to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Thomsen Kruse is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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.
Learning organization
- Thomsen Kruse 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 Thomsen Kruse is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Thomsen Kruse 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 Thomsen Kruse in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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.
High brand equity
– Thomsen Kruse has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Thomsen Kruse to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Thomsen Kruse has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Thomsen Kruse 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Thomsen Kruse 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B), 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Thomsen Kruse is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Thomsen Kruse 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. Thomsen Kruse 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.
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 Thomsen Kruse supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Thomsen Kruse vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Thomsen Kruse 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 - Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Thomsen Kruse 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B), in the dynamic environment Thomsen Kruse has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Thomsen Kruse has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Thomsen Kruse is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Thomsen Kruse has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) | 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Thomsen Kruse can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Thomsen Kruse operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Thomsen Kruse can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Thomsen Kruse 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.
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. Thomsen Kruse 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. Thomsen Kruse 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Thomsen Kruse 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Thomsen Kruse 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Thomsen Kruse to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Thomsen Kruse 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
– Thomsen Kruse can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Thomsen Kruse 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 Thomsen Kruse to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Thomsen Kruse is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Thomsen Kruse 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Thomsen Kruse to increase its market reach. Thomsen Kruse 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Thomsen Kruse 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Thomsen Kruse has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Thomsen Kruse 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Thomsen Kruse 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Thomsen Kruse 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 Thomsen Kruse.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Thomsen Kruse 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.
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 Thomsen Kruse business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Thomsen Kruse 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. Thomsen Kruse can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Thomsen Kruse with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Thomsen Kruse
– 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 Thomsen Kruse.
Environmental challenges
– Thomsen Kruse 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. Thomsen Kruse can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Thomsen Kruse needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Dealing with Crisis: Lars Kruse Thomsen Moves to Solve Problems (B) 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 Thomsen Kruse needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.