ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version
Focuses in detail on implementing a corporate restructuring program in ABB's German subsidiary. Special attention is given to Germany's unique form of industrial governance. Two major problem areas--power plants and power transformers--are described in detail, as is a decentralization proposal for the German sales operation. How should the head of ABB Germany proceed? Why did he take this job? What choices did he make? What challenges does he face, particularly as a newcomer? Why are power plants and power transformers in deep trouble and what action can be taken? Does decentralization of the sales force make sense? What are the challenges, opportunities, and risks facing ABB's Germany country head? Will the new international matrix be a help or a hindrance?
Swot Analysis of "ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version" written by Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Abb's Transformers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Decision making, International business, Leadership, Reorganization, Risk management, Sales and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Abb's Transformers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Abb's Transformers 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Abb's Transformers
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 Abb's Transformers
Strengths ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Abb's Transformers in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Abb's Transformers in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Abb's Transformers 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 Abb's Transformers 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Abb's Transformers in the sector have low bargaining power. ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Abb's Transformers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Abb's Transformers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Abb's Transformers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Abb's Transformers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Abb's Transformers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Abb's Transformers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Abb's Transformers 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Abb's Transformers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Abb's Transformers 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.
Training and development
– Abb's Transformers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Abb's Transformers 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 Abb's Transformers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version, in the dynamic environment Abb's Transformers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Abb's Transformers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Abb's Transformers 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven suggests that, Abb's Transformers 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Abb's Transformers needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Abb's Transformers 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. Abb's Transformers 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Abb's Transformers has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Abb's Transformers, firm in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version, it seems that the employees of Abb's Transformers 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 Abb's Transformers 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Abb's Transformers 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Abb's Transformers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Abb's Transformers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version | 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Abb's Transformers 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.
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 Abb's Transformers 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
– Abb's Transformers 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Abb's Transformers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Abb's Transformers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Abb's Transformers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version case study. Abb's Transformers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Abb's Transformers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Abb's Transformers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Abb's Transformers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Abb's Transformers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Abb's Transformers 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.
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 Abb's Transformers in the consumer business. Now Abb's Transformers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Abb's Transformers 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Abb's Transformers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Abb's Transformers to increase its market reach. Abb's Transformers 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Abb's Transformers can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version are -
Increasing wage structure of Abb's Transformers
– 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 Abb's Transformers.
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. Abb's Transformers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Abb's Transformers 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 Abb's Transformers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Abb's Transformers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Abb's Transformers 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Abb's Transformers 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Abb's Transformers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Abb's Transformers 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.
Environmental challenges
– Abb's Transformers 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. Abb's Transformers 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, Abb's Transformers 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version .
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 Abb's Transformers in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Abb's Transformers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Abb's Transformers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 ABB Deutschland (B), Spanish Version 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 Abb's Transformers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.