Case Study Description of Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration
The case describes Microsoft's first significant acquisition in Europe and its first in the telecom equipment (software) market. SendIt is a publicly listed Swedish start-up, which offers the only Windows based solutions to the IP-based mobile phone services market. The acquisition starts in high tone, loses momentum and is finally integrated with some degree of success.
Swot Analysis of "Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration" written by Maurizio Zollo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sendit Acquisition facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial analysis, Mergers & acquisitions, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration casestudy better are - – technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sendit Acquisition, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sendit Acquisition 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sendit Acquisition
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 Sendit Acquisition
Strengths Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sendit Acquisition in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Sendit Acquisition has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sendit Acquisition is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sendit Acquisition 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sendit Acquisition 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Sendit Acquisition is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sendit Acquisition digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sendit Acquisition 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.
High brand equity
– Sendit Acquisition has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sendit Acquisition to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Sendit Acquisition is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Sendit Acquisition
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sendit Acquisition does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sendit Acquisition to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sendit Acquisition to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sendit Acquisition in the sector have low bargaining power. Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sendit Acquisition to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Sendit Acquisition products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sendit Acquisition needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sendit Acquisition 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sendit Acquisition is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration, in the dynamic environment Sendit Acquisition has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sendit Acquisition has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sendit Acquisition 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 - Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration, it seems that the employees of Sendit Acquisition 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sendit Acquisition, firm in the HBR case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sendit Acquisition 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. Sendit Acquisition 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration, is just above the industry average. Sendit Acquisition needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sendit Acquisition is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Sendit Acquisition needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sendit Acquisition to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sendit Acquisition 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration | 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration are -
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. Sendit Acquisition 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. Sendit Acquisition 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.
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. Sendit Acquisition can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Sendit Acquisition 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sendit Acquisition 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sendit Acquisition to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Sendit Acquisition can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Sendit Acquisition can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sendit Acquisition can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sendit Acquisition has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sendit Acquisition to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration case study. Sendit Acquisition can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sendit Acquisition 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sendit Acquisition can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sendit Acquisition operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sendit Acquisition 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sendit Acquisition 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sendit Acquisition 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 Sendit Acquisition to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sendit Acquisition 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Sendit Acquisition 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.
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. Sendit Acquisition 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sendit Acquisition is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Sendit Acquisition 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
– Sendit Acquisition 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Sendit Acquisition with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sendit Acquisition 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.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sendit Acquisition 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration .
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. Sendit Acquisition can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Sendit Acquisition 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. Sendit Acquisition can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Microsoft's Acquisition of Sendit (D): Post-Acquisition Integration 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 Sendit Acquisition needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
