People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version
This case is accompanied by a Video Short that can be shown in class or included in a digital coursepack. Instructors should consider the timing of making the video available to students, as it may reveal key case details.Describes the innovative approach to organizing and managing employees by People Express and describes the company's eventual demise. This material can be used to inform about leading edge human resource management practices and to raise questions about what went wrong. Why did People Express succeed in its early years and why did it ultimately fail?
Swot Analysis of "People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version" written by Michael Beer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Express People facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Organizational culture, Organizational structure, Strategy execution and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Express People, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Express People 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Express People
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 Express People
Strengths People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Express People in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Express People 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 Michael Beer 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.
Organizational Resilience of Express People
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Express People does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Express People digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Express People 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Express People is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Express People is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Express People 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Express People in the sector have low bargaining power. People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Express People to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Express People has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Express People 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
– Express People has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Express People 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Express People to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Express People to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Express People in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Express People products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Express People needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Express People supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Express People vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Express People 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 Express People 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version HBR case study mentions - Express People 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Express People 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. Express People 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Express People is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Express People 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Express People is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Express People needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Express People to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 Express People has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version are -
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 Express People in the consumer business. Now Express People can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Express People 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Express People 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
– Express People 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Express People 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 Express People 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Express People can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Express People is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 Express People has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Express People to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version case study. Express People can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Express People 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 Express People to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Express People 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.
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. Express People can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Express People to increase its market reach. Express People 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.
Threats People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese Version, Express People may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Express People 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.
Environmental challenges
– Express People 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. Express People can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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. Express People needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Express People business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Express People 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.
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.
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. Express People 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.
Increasing wage structure of Express People
– 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 Express People.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Express People 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Express People has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Express People 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.
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 Express People in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Express People is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline, Chinese 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 Express People needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
