Case Study Description of Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather
Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Egyptian Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), continuously scoured the globe for opportunities to expand his telecommunications empire. In 2005, Naguib looked across the Mediterranean Sea and announced his intention to acquire Italian telecom operator Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (Wind), one of Italy's leading telecommunication providers in the largest leveraged buyout in European business history.
Swot Analysis of "Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather" written by L. J. Bourgeois III, Henning Hoeber includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Naguib Wind facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Naguib Wind, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Naguib Wind 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Naguib Wind
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 Naguib Wind
Strengths Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Naguib Wind in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Naguib Wind has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Naguib Wind to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Naguib Wind to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Naguib Wind to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Naguib Wind digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Naguib Wind 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Naguib Wind 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 Naguib Wind in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Naguib Wind 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 L. J. Bourgeois III, Henning Hoeber 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Naguib Wind is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Naguib Wind 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 Naguib Wind is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Naguib Wind has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Naguib Wind 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Naguib Wind is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Naguib Wind 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Naguib Wind 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Naguib Wind 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, L. J. Bourgeois III, Henning Hoeber suggests that, Naguib Wind 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Naguib Wind products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Naguib Wind needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather, it seems that the employees of Naguib Wind 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather, is just above the industry average. Naguib Wind 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Naguib Wind 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. Naguib Wind 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Naguib Wind 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Naguib Wind 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Naguib Wind, firm in the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather | 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Naguib Wind has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Naguib Wind to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather case study. Naguib Wind can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Naguib Wind 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 Naguib Wind to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Naguib Wind 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Naguib Wind to increase its market reach. Naguib Wind 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Naguib Wind 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, Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Naguib Wind 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Naguib Wind is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Naguib Wind can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Naguib Wind operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Naguib Wind can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Naguib Wind can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Naguib Wind 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Naguib Wind 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Naguib Wind 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Naguib Wind has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Naguib Wind 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.
Environmental challenges
– Naguib Wind 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. Naguib Wind can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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. Naguib Wind needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Naguib Wind 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.
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 Naguib Wind
– 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 Naguib Wind.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Naguib Wind 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.
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 Naguib Wind business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Naguib Wind 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 Naguib Wind with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Naguib Wind 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.
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 Naguib Wind in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Naguib Wind 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Orascom Telecom Holding (A): Wind and Weather 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 Naguib Wind needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.