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 - – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
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.
Learning organization
- Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers Ranging is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
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.
Training and development
– Colliers Ranging has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers Ranging in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Colliers Ranging is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Colliers Ranging 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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 -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, it seems that the employees of Colliers Ranging don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization 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 Colliers Ranging has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Colliers Ranging 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization, in the dynamic environment Colliers Ranging has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Colliers Ranging has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 -
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Colliers Ranging has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Colliers Ranging to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization case study. Colliers Ranging can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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. Colliers Ranging 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. Colliers Ranging 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Colliers Ranging 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Colliers Ranging 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Colliers Ranging 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 Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Colliers Ranging to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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 -
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Colliers Ranging 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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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 Colliers Ranging 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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