Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization
In less than 20 years, the real estate firm Colliers International expanded into a federation of 180 offices with close to 4,500 professionals in over 30 countries. Because Colliers expanded by signing up existing firms strong in their local markets, its leaders had to manage a portfolio of firms with revenues ranging from $500,000 to over $80 million. Some were over 150 years old; others less than one. Firms provided services ranging from commission-based brokerage services to advisory services more akin to consulting services involving retainer fees. Colliers leaders are considering how their organization should respond to the changing needs of real estate clients. Colliers managers need to decide what organizational structure, management practices, and IT strategy their organization requires to enter the next century.
Swot Analysis of "Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization" written by Lynda M. Applegate, Carin-Isabel Knoop includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Colliers Ranging facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Mergers & acquisitions, Organizational structure and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, 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%, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Colliers Ranging, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Colliers Ranging
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 Colliers Ranging
Strengths Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Colliers Ranging in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Colliers Ranging digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Colliers Ranging 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Colliers Ranging to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Colliers Ranging to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Colliers Ranging has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Colliers Ranging in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Colliers Ranging 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 Lynda M. Applegate, Carin-Isabel Knoop 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Colliers Ranging in the sector have low bargaining power. Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Colliers Ranging to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Colliers Ranging has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Colliers Ranging 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Colliers Ranging is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Colliers Ranging is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Colliers Ranging
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Colliers Ranging does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Colliers Ranging is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Colliers Ranging 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Colliers Ranging is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Colliers Ranging products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Colliers Ranging needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers Ranging 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, is just above the industry average. Colliers Ranging 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Colliers Ranging needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Colliers Ranging 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. Colliers Ranging 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers Ranging, firm in the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Colliers Ranging supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Colliers Ranging vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Colliers Ranging 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.
Opportunities Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization | 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Colliers Ranging 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, Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Colliers Ranging can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Colliers Ranging 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Colliers Ranging 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers Ranging to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Colliers Ranging 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.
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. Colliers Ranging can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Colliers Ranging can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Colliers Ranging 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Colliers Ranging to increase its market reach. Colliers Ranging will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Colliers Ranging in the consumer business. Now Colliers Ranging can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Colliers Ranging can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Colliers Ranging 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.
Threats Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization are -
Environmental challenges
– Colliers Ranging 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. Colliers Ranging can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Colliers Ranging 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.
Increasing wage structure of Colliers Ranging
– 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 Colliers Ranging.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, Colliers Ranging 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 .
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 Colliers Ranging.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Colliers Ranging has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Colliers Ranging 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.
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. Colliers Ranging can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Colliers Ranging needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Colliers Ranging with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Colliers Ranging 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers Ranging needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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