Case Study Description of Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.Can multinationals wield competitive advantage by aggressively hiring talented members of the excluded social group in each market? This is the subject of Siegel's global strategy research as well as the focus of this case study.
Authors :: Jordan Siegel, Mimi Xi, Christopher Poliquin
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Corporate governance, Diversity, Hiring, Human resource management, International business, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative" written by Jordan Siegel, Mimi Xi, Christopher Poliquin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Baxter's Color.can facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Diversity, Hiring, Human resource management, International business and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Baxter's Color.can, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Baxter's Color.can 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Baxter's Color.can
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 Baxter's Color.can
Strengths Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Baxter's Color.can in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Baxter's Color.can to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Baxter's Color.can to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Baxter's Color.can 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 Baxter's Color.can is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Baxter's Color.can has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Baxter's Color.can 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Baxter's Color.can 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 Baxter's Color.can in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Baxter's Color.can 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Baxter's Color.can is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Baxter's Color.can 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 Jordan Siegel, Mimi Xi, Christopher Poliquin 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.
High brand equity
– Baxter's Color.can has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Baxter's Color.can to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Baxter's Color.can in the sector have low bargaining power. Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Baxter's Color.can to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Baxter's Color.can is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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.
Training and development
– Baxter's Color.can has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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.
Weaknesses Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Baxter's Color.can 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 - Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Color.can 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative, is just above the industry average. Baxter's Color.can 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Baxter's Color.can is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Baxter's Color.can needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Baxter's Color.can to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Baxter's Color.can products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Baxter's Color.can needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Baxter's Color.can 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Baxter's Color.can, firm in the HBR case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Color.can has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Baxter's Color.can 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Baxter's Color.can 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. Baxter's Color.can 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.
Opportunities Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative | 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Baxter's Color.can 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Baxter's Color.can has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Baxter's Color.can to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative case study. Baxter's Color.can 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, Baxter's Color.can is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Baxter's Color.can to increase its market reach. Baxter's Color.can 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Baxter's Color.can 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.
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. Baxter's Color.can can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Baxter's Color.can 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Baxter's Color.can 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Baxter's Color.can can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Baxter's Color.can 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Baxter's Color.can 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Baxter's Color.can can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Baxter's Color.can 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Baxter's Color.can to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Baxter's Color.can is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Baxter's Color.can 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.
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 Baxter's Color.can in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Baxter's Color.can has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Baxter's Color.can needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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. Baxter's Color.can needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative, Baxter's Color.can 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 .
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. Baxter's Color.can 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Baxter's Color.can 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Baxter's Color.can 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
– Baxter's Color.can 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Baxter's Color.can with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Baxter's Color.can 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. Baxter's Color.can can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Asia Pacific "Talent Edge" Initiative 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 Baxter's Color.can needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
