Swot Analysis of "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version" written by Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Alberto Moel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Zelezny Mate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Joint ventures, Negotiations, Risk management and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zelezny Mate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zelezny Mate
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zelezny Mate
Strengths Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zelezny Mate in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Zelezny Mate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Zelezny Mate has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Zelezny Mate 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zelezny Mate in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Zelezny Mate has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Zelezny Mate to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Zelezny Mate 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Zelezny Mate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Zelezny Mate 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 Zelezny Mate is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Zelezny Mate is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese 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.
Analytics focus
– Zelezny Mate 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 Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Alberto Moel 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.
Weaknesses Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Zelezny Mate is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Zelezny Mate 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version HBR case study mentions - Zelezny Mate 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Zelezny Mate is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Zelezny Mate 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 - Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Zelezny Mate, firm in the HBR case study Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Zelezny Mate has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Alberto Moel suggests that, Zelezny Mate is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zelezny Mate 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.
Opportunities Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version are -
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. Zelezny Mate can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Zelezny Mate can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zelezny Mate 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 Zelezny Mate in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zelezny Mate 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Zelezny Mate can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Zelezny Mate 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zelezny Mate 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Zelezny Mate in the consumer business. Now Zelezny Mate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Zelezny Mate can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Zelezny Mate to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Zelezny Mate to increase its market reach. Zelezny Mate 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Zelezny Mate can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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.
Threats Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Zelezny Mate is facing in Finance & Accounting 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. Zelezny Mate needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Zelezny Mate 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. Zelezny Mate can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zelezny Mate in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Zelezny Mate business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Zelezny Mate in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zelezny Mate 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, Chinese Version .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Zelezny Mate can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Regulatory challenges
– Zelezny Mate 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Zelezny Mate 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.
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 Zelezny Mate.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Zelezny Mate 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)--The Struggle for Control, 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 Zelezny Mate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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