Case Study Description of Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform'
The ChA?teauform' case describes how Jacques Horovitz founded a unique concept in the saturated hotel and seminar market that existing hotel chains find difficult to copy and conquer. The case outlines why the new company has entered that market successfully and how Horovitz grew this concept by copying his success formula in other countries and for different target groups. Permanent questioning and reinvention were keys to the sustainability of ChA?teauform', which maintained the agility and nimbleness of a startup even though it had grown to a company with revenues exceeding a??100 million and almost 1,000 employees. Key to the success of the ChA?teauform' model are some very original solutions to classic supply chain management quagmires in the service industry. The case describes how Horovitz successfully managed this growth. It is a good illustration of how to implement a strategy built on customer centricity and customer intimacy. An interesting element of this case study is the emphasis on managing by values rather than rules and on realigning the whole value chain to make sure the value creation is indeed managed at the customer level, forcing a corporate structure that is very innovative.
Authors :: Benoit Leleux, Kurt Verweire, Marion Debruyne
Swot Analysis of "Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform'" written by Benoit Leleux, Kurt Verweire, Marion Debruyne includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Horovitz Teauform facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Assessing performance, Corporate governance, Customers, Human resource management, Organizational culture, Strategy execution, Supply chain and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform'
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Horovitz Teauform, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Horovitz Teauform 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Horovitz Teauform
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 Horovitz Teauform
Strengths Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Horovitz Teauform in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Horovitz Teauform in the sector have low bargaining power. Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Horovitz Teauform to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Horovitz Teauform is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Horovitz Teauform 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Horovitz Teauform is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Horovitz Teauform 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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
– Horovitz Teauform 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 Horovitz Teauform in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Horovitz Teauform has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Horovitz Teauform 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.
Learning organization
- Horovitz Teauform 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 Horovitz Teauform is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Horovitz Teauform in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Horovitz Teauform has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Horovitz Teauform 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.
Weaknesses Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform', 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform', is just above the industry average. Horovitz Teauform 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Horovitz Teauform products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Horovitz Teauform needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Horovitz Teauform 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Horovitz Teauform 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Horovitz Teauform 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Horovitz Teauform 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 - Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Horovitz Teauform 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Benoit Leleux, Kurt Verweire, Marion Debruyne suggests that, Horovitz Teauform 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Horovitz Teauform is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Horovitz Teauform needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Horovitz Teauform to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Horovitz Teauform 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.
Opportunities Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' | 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' are -
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 Horovitz Teauform 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Horovitz Teauform 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
– Horovitz Teauform 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Horovitz Teauform to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Horovitz Teauform 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 Horovitz Teauform 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, Horovitz Teauform 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, Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform', to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Horovitz Teauform can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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. Horovitz Teauform 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. Horovitz Teauform 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Horovitz Teauform 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.
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 Horovitz Teauform in the consumer business. Now Horovitz Teauform can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Horovitz Teauform 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Horovitz Teauform 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Horovitz Teauform is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Horovitz Teauform to increase its market reach. Horovitz Teauform 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.
Threats Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' are -
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. Horovitz Teauform 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Horovitz Teauform 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Horovitz Teauform 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Horovitz Teauform has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Horovitz Teauform 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.
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 Horovitz Teauform business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
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 wage structure of Horovitz Teauform
– 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 Horovitz Teauform.
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 Horovitz Teauform.
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 Horovitz Teauform 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 Horovitz Teauform with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Horovitz Teauform 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Horovitz Teauform 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Sustaining Customer Centricity at Chateauform' 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 Horovitz Teauform needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
