CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video
CEMEX has pursued an aggressive de-commoditization strategy focused on its relationship with small Egyptian retailers. In particular, the strategic role and effectiveness of the "Reward Program," a tournament which rewarded the sales performance of the retailers, was called into question by Assiut's management based on the results of its first two rounds. .
Swot Analysis of "CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video" written by F. Asis Martinez-Jerez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Egyptian Cemex facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Compensation, Motivating people, Pricing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Egyptian Cemex, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Egyptian Cemex 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Egyptian Cemex
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Egyptian Cemex
Strengths CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Egyptian Cemex in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Egyptian Cemex
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Egyptian Cemex does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Egyptian Cemex 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 Egyptian Cemex in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Egyptian Cemex 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Egyptian Cemex is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Egyptian Cemex is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Egyptian Cemex has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Egyptian Cemex to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Egyptian Cemex 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 F. Asis Martinez-Jerez 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.
Training and development
– Egyptian Cemex has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Egyptian Cemex in the sector have low bargaining power. CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Egyptian Cemex to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Egyptian Cemex 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 Egyptian Cemex is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Egyptian Cemex 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video are -
Need for greater diversity
– Egyptian Cemex 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, Egyptian Cemex is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Egyptian Cemex 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Egyptian Cemex 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 - CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Egyptian Cemex is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Egyptian Cemex needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Egyptian Cemex to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video, is just above the industry average. Egyptian Cemex 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 Egyptian Cemex has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Egyptian Cemex supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Egyptian Cemex vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Egyptian Cemex, firm in the HBR case study CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Egyptian Cemex 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Egyptian Cemex 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.
Opportunities CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video | 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Egyptian Cemex 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 Egyptian Cemex to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Buying journey improvements
– Egyptian Cemex can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Egyptian Cemex has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Egyptian Cemex to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video case study. Egyptian Cemex can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Egyptian Cemex can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Egyptian Cemex 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 Egyptian Cemex to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Egyptian Cemex to increase its market reach. Egyptian Cemex 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Egyptian Cemex in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Egyptian Cemex can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Egyptian Cemex 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Egyptian Cemex to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Egyptian Cemex 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, CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Egyptian Cemex can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Egyptian Cemex 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. Egyptian Cemex 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.
Threats CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Egyptian Cemex has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Egyptian Cemex needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
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 Egyptian Cemex.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Egyptian Cemex 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video, Egyptian Cemex may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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 Egyptian Cemex in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Egyptian Cemex
– 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 Egyptian Cemex.
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 Egyptian Cemex business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Egyptian Cemex 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.
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. Egyptian Cemex needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Egyptian Cemex 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Egyptian Cemex 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Egyptian Cemex is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers, Video 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 Egyptian Cemex needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
