Case Study Description of Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler
Ebao is a year-old web-based technology company whose founders believe that their e-insurance programs and products have the potential to improve the overall efficiency of China's traditional insurance industry. In its first year of operation, Ebao has grown into a 70-person organization with offices in Shanghai and Beijing, and almost all of the major insurance companies in China have signed up with the company's web site and are using its e-insurance applications. Ebao's CEO and founder has a long list of challenges to confront in the coming year. The company needs to strengthen its market position in the face of rapidly growing competition and to sustain its rapid growth in a year full of market downturns. As well, Ebao's management team has targeted to achieve break-even by the end of the current year. The company's CEO must determine a concrete business strategy that will lead Ebao onto the next stage of success. His challenge is to build competitive advantage in the new Internet industry and in an emerging market.
Swot Analysis of "Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler" written by Mary M. Crossan, Tianshu Ru includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ebao Insurance facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ebao Insurance, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ebao Insurance
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 Ebao Insurance
Strengths Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ebao Insurance in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Ebao Insurance is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ebao Insurance 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ebao Insurance is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Ebao Insurance is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Insurance is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Ebao Insurance 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 Mary M. Crossan, Tianshu Ru 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ebao Insurance digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ebao Insurance 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Insurance in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Ebao Insurance has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ebao Insurance to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler - 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ebao Insurance 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ebao Insurance is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Ebao Insurance needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ebao Insurance to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Ebao Insurance 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler HBR case study mentions - Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Insurance supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ebao Insurance vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ebao Insurance is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ebao Insurance products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ebao Insurance needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ebao Insurance 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 - Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Ebao Insurance 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler, it seems that the employees of Ebao Insurance 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Insurance has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler | 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ebao Insurance 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ebao Insurance is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ebao Insurance can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ebao Insurance to increase its market reach. Ebao Insurance 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ebao Insurance 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ebao Insurance 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
– Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ebao Insurance to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Ebao Insurance in the consumer business. Now Ebao Insurance 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 Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ebao Insurance can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Ebao Insurance 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ebao Insurance 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Insurance to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ebao Insurance 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, Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler are -
Regulatory challenges
– Ebao Insurance 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
– Ebao Insurance 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.
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 Ebao Insurance.
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. Ebao Insurance can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler, Ebao Insurance 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Ebao Insurance 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. Ebao Insurance can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Ebao Insurance 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.
Increasing wage structure of Ebao Insurance
– 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 Ebao Insurance.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ebao Insurance 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.
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, Ebao Insurance 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ebao Insurance with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ebao Insurance is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Technology: An E-Insurance Enabler 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 Ebao Insurance needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.