Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession
Kfar Giladi Quarries (KGQ), situated in northern Israel, faces a crisis: the national economy is in recession; the government budget for infrastructure development and construction, on which the company depends, has been reduced; transportation and distribution problems limit its ability to export (or import) cheap raw materials; and there is increasing competition in the industry. The company had recently dissolved its partnership with Malibu Israel Company Ltd., an international company that had given it access to the central part of Israel where most infrastructure and construction jobs and investments are located. The result has been loss in business and a negative cash flow. The case allows students to practise basic tools for strategic planning and permits guidance to companies hesitating over a recovery program, especially during an economic recession; companies in a reorganization phase after separation from a partner; and/or companies that have to shift their management paradigm.
Swot Analysis of "Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession" written by Sara Edom, Ilan Alon, Jennifer Dugosh includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Giladi Kfar facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Giladi Kfar, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Giladi Kfar 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Giladi Kfar
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Giladi Kfar
Strengths Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Giladi Kfar in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Giladi Kfar digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Giladi Kfar 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Giladi Kfar to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Giladi Kfar to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Giladi Kfar in the sector have low bargaining power. Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Giladi Kfar to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Giladi Kfar has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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
– Giladi Kfar 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 Sara Edom, Ilan Alon, Jennifer Dugosh 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Giladi Kfar 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Giladi Kfar has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Giladi Kfar 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Giladi Kfar 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Giladi Kfar is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Giladi Kfar is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Giladi Kfar in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Giladi Kfar 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Giladi Kfar 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Giladi Kfar products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Giladi Kfar needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Giladi Kfar 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession HBR case study mentions - Giladi Kfar 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession, is just above the industry average. Giladi Kfar 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 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 Giladi Kfar supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Giladi Kfar vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Giladi Kfar 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. Giladi Kfar 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession, it seems that the employees of Giladi Kfar don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Giladi Kfar 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Giladi Kfar is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Giladi Kfar needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Giladi Kfar to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession | 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Giladi Kfar 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.
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 Giladi Kfar 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Giladi Kfar 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 Giladi Kfar to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Giladi Kfar can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Giladi Kfar to increase its market reach. Giladi Kfar 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Giladi Kfar is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Giladi Kfar 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. Giladi Kfar 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Giladi Kfar 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Giladi Kfar can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Giladi Kfar can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Giladi Kfar operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Giladi Kfar 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
– Giladi Kfar 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.
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. Giladi Kfar can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Giladi Kfar in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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 Giladi Kfar.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Giladi Kfar 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Giladi Kfar 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.
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 Giladi Kfar in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Giladi Kfar with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Giladi Kfar 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Giladi Kfar 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.
Increasing wage structure of Giladi Kfar
– 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 Giladi Kfar.
Regulatory challenges
– Giladi Kfar 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession, Giladi Kfar may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Giladi Kfar is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Giladi Kfar 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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 Kfar Giladi Quarries: Crisis During an Economic Recession 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 Giladi Kfar needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
