Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining
The mining giant Anglo American attempts to differentiate itself through its social performance, yet public expectations are still growing. Maintaining a "social license" to operate was increasingly challenging and critical to business success. The case considers Anglo American's options to stay in front of these trends. How can the protagonist promote greater professionalization of social performance inside the organization, and greater integration with business decisions? The organization was also under pressure to increase social investments as part of the company's social license. Could significantly more value - for the company, host governments, and local communities - be created by leveraging the company's core operations, such as increasing the amount of goods and services purchased from local suppliers?
Authors :: Christopher Marquis, David Plumb, Tom Blathwayt, Zoe Yang
Swot Analysis of "Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining" written by Christopher Marquis, David Plumb, Tom Blathwayt, Zoe Yang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Anglo Social facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization, Organizational culture, Public relations, Sales, Social responsibility, Strategy, Supply chain and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Anglo Social, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Anglo Social 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Anglo Social
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 Anglo Social
Strengths Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Anglo Social in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Anglo Social is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Anglo Social digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Anglo Social 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Anglo Social is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Anglo Social in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Anglo Social in the sector have low bargaining power. Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Anglo Social to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Anglo Social 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 Christopher Marquis, David Plumb, Tom Blathwayt, Zoe Yang 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Anglo Social 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Anglo Social has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Anglo Social 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Anglo Social 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Anglo Social is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Anglo Social 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining, is just above the industry average. Anglo Social 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Anglo Social 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining HBR case study mentions - Anglo Social 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.
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 Anglo Social supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Anglo Social vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Anglo Social 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 - Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Anglo Social is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Christopher Marquis, David Plumb, Tom Blathwayt, Zoe Yang suggests that, Anglo Social 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Anglo Social 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Anglo Social 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. Anglo Social 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining, in the dynamic environment Anglo Social has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Anglo Social has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining | 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining are -
Loyalty marketing
– Anglo Social 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Anglo Social can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Anglo Social operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Anglo Social to increase its market reach. Anglo Social 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.
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 Anglo Social in the consumer business. Now Anglo Social can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Anglo Social can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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 Anglo Social 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
– Anglo Social 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Anglo Social to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Anglo Social has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Anglo Social to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining case study. Anglo Social can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Anglo Social is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Anglo Social can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Anglo Social 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Anglo Social in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Anglo Social 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Threats Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Anglo Social demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Anglo Social 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Anglo Social 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.
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 Anglo Social business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Anglo Social 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. Anglo Social can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Anglo Social 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining .
Increasing wage structure of Anglo Social
– 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 Anglo Social.
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. Anglo Social 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Anglo Social can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Anglo Social with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Anglo Social.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo American: Implementing a 'Social Way' for Global Mining 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 Anglo Social needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.