ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version

Addresses the results and the lessons from the German restructuring effort by focusing in detail on the relationship with the works council and the actions taken for power plants and power transformers, and the sales organization. Closes with a "second wave" of cost cutting and some reflections by the head of ABB Germany, as well as some excerpts from an interview with Percy Barnevik. How did international knowledge transfer help? How much of a constraint were German national and BBC corporate cultures? Can the organization digest a "second wave" of cost cutting? How does the ABB international matrix work, especially for the power transformers business area and for the German power plant operations? How does the domestic matrix work for the sales organization? What leadership and managerial skills are required to succeed in the international matrix? Is ABB the prototype of the global organization of the future?

Authors :: Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven

Topics :: Organizational Development

Tags :: International business, Leadership, Reorganization, Sales, Time management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "ABB Deutschland (C), 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 Matrix facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Leadership, Reorganization, Sales, Time management and Organizational Development.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Abb Matrix, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Abb Matrix 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Abb Matrix
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 Matrix

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Strengths ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Abb Matrix in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -

Learning organization

- Abb Matrix 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 Abb Matrix is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Analytics focus

– Abb Matrix 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 Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Abb Matrix is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Diverse revenue streams

– Abb Matrix is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in ABB Deutschland (C), 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.

High brand equity

– Abb Matrix has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Abb Matrix to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Abb Matrix in the sector have low bargaining power. ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Abb Matrix to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the ABB Deutschland (C), 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Abb Matrix 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 (C), Spanish Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management

– Abb Matrix is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry

– ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Abb Matrix to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Abb Matrix to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Abb Matrix in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field

– Abb Matrix 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 Matrix in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

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Weaknesses ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version are -

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version, 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.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Abb Matrix 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version 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 Abb Matrix has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Abb Matrix 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Abb Matrix 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version, is just above the industry average. Abb Matrix 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Abb Matrix products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Abb Matrix needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ABB Deutschland (C), 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 Matrix 's lucrative customers.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Abb Matrix 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 - ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Abb Matrix 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 Matrix 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Abb Matrix 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.

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Opportunities ABB Deutschland (C), 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 (C), Spanish Version are -

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Abb Matrix to increase its market reach. Abb Matrix 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.

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 Matrix 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Abb Matrix 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Abb Matrix has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Abb Matrix to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ABB Deutschland (C), Spanish Version case study. Abb Matrix can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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. Abb Matrix can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Abb Matrix 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Abb Matrix 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Abb Matrix 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 (C), Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Abb Matrix to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Manufacturing automation

– Abb Matrix can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Developing new processes and practices

– Abb Matrix can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Abb Matrix is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ABB Deutschland (C), 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Abb Matrix 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 Abb Matrix to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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. Abb Matrix 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. Abb Matrix 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.

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Threats ABB Deutschland (C), 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 (C), Spanish Version are -

Increasing wage structure of Abb Matrix

– 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 Matrix.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Abb Matrix 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 (C), Spanish Version .

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 Matrix can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Environmental challenges

– Abb Matrix 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 Matrix can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.

Regulatory challenges

– Abb Matrix 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Abb Matrix 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.

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.

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 Matrix in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Abb Matrix 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.

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. Abb Matrix 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 Abb Matrix is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Matrix needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of ABB Deutschland (C), 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 (C), 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 (C), 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 (C), 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 (C), 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 Matrix needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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