Case Study Description of Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers
In this case, a new director of flight operations for a global firm growing by acquisition must manage a series of problems in both its West- and East-coast flight centers, which were reorganized following a recent merger. Problems include new computer systems, jealousies, intergroup conflicts, weak leadership, and the need to manage change.
Swot Analysis of "Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers" written by Greg Bevan, James G. Clawson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Flight Intergroup facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Change management, Conflict, IT, Leadership, Organizational culture and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Flight Intergroup, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Flight Intergroup
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 Flight Intergroup
Strengths Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Flight Intergroup in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Flight Intergroup 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
– Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Flight Intergroup to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Flight Intergroup to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Flight Intergroup
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Flight Intergroup does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Flight Intergroup has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Flight Intergroup to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Flight Intergroup has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Flight Intergroup 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.
Analytics focus
– Flight Intergroup 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 Greg Bevan, James G. Clawson 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Flight Intergroup 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.
Learning organization
- Flight Intergroup 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 Flight Intergroup is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Flight Intergroup has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Flight Intergroup digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Flight Intergroup 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.
Weaknesses Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Flight Intergroup has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High 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 Flight Intergroup supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Flight Intergroup vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Flight Intergroup products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Flight Intergroup needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Flight Intergroup 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. Flight Intergroup 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 Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Flight Intergroup has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Flight Intergroup is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Flight Intergroup needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Flight Intergroup to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Flight Intergroup 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Flight Intergroup is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers | 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Flight Intergroup 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 Flight Intergroup to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Flight Intergroup 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
– Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Flight Intergroup to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Flight Intergroup can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Flight Intergroup to increase its market reach. Flight Intergroup 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Flight Intergroup 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Flight Intergroup 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Flight Intergroup can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Flight Intergroup operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Flight Intergroup 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.
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 Flight Intergroup in the consumer business. Now Flight Intergroup 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, Flight Intergroup 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Flight Intergroup is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Flight Intergroup 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, Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers, 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers are -
Regulatory challenges
– Flight Intergroup 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. Flight Intergroup 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Flight Intergroup 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.
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. Flight Intergroup needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Flight Intergroup in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers, Flight Intergroup 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Flight Intergroup 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers .
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 Flight Intergroup business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Flight Intergroup 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Flight Intergroup 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
– Flight Intergroup has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Flight Intergroup 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
– Flight Intergroup 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. Flight Intergroup can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Intergroup Relations at Atlantica's Flight Centers 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 Flight Intergroup needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.