Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program?
To ensure transformation beyond its core brand, the European management team of Eccho, a globally operating fast-moving consumer goods company, had decided to invest in building leaders who could deliver growth in new categories. This case describes how Eccho goes about putting together a European leadership development program.
Swot Analysis of "Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program?" written by Bettina Buechel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eccho European facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eccho European, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eccho European 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eccho European
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 Eccho European
Strengths Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eccho European in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eccho European 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.
Organizational Resilience of Eccho European
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Eccho European does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Eccho European in the sector have low bargaining power. Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Eccho European to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eccho European digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eccho European 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eccho European has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eccho European 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 Eccho European in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Eccho European 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 Bettina Buechel 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.
Learning organization
- Eccho European 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 Eccho European is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Eccho European 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Eccho European is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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.
High brand equity
– Eccho European has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Eccho European to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Eccho European to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Eccho European to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Eccho European, firm in the HBR case study Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program?, it seems that the employees of Eccho European don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? HBR case study mentions - Eccho European 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Eccho European 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Eccho European 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 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 Eccho European supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Eccho European vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Eccho European 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Eccho European 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 - Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eccho European is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Eccho European 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.
Opportunities Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eccho European 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Eccho European 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
– Eccho European 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Eccho European to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eccho European is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Eccho European 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Eccho European has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Eccho European to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? case study. Eccho European 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 Eccho European can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eccho European 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Eccho European 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.
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. Eccho European can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Eccho European 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Eccho European can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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.
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 Eccho European in the consumer business. Now Eccho European can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development Program? are -
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.
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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Eccho European needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Eccho European 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.
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. Eccho European 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eccho European is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Eccho European has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Eccho European 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
– Eccho European 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 Eccho European.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Eccho European 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.
Environmental challenges
– Eccho European 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. Eccho European can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eccho European 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.
Increasing wage structure of Eccho European
– 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 Eccho European.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho: Business Initiative or Leadership Development 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 Eccho European needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
