Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa
This case should be printed in color.This is the story of MTC, a Kuwaiti telecom company that has grown from a sleepy, state monopoly to become one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the world, with the largest regional footprint across the Middle East and Africa. The CEO of the company, Dr. Saad Al Barrak had been successful in executing an aggressive growth plan that found its crown jewel in the acquisition of Celtel, one of the largest telecom companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, this acquisition threw MTC into a dynamic new context and marked the beginning of a very different phase. If Dr. Saad was going to lead MTC into the topmost ranks of global telecom, his team would have to successfully grapple with all the growing pains of managing across borders, brand names and cultures. All against the backdrop of an unpredictable African market with huge growth potential and rapidly increasing competition.
Swot Analysis of "Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa" written by Tarun Khanna, Ayesha K. Khan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mtc Saad facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Globalization, Growth strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mtc Saad, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mtc Saad 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mtc Saad
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 Mtc Saad
Strengths Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mtc Saad in Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mtc Saad to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mtc Saad to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mtc Saad 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Mtc Saad 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 Mtc Saad in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mtc Saad has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mtc Saad 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mtc Saad 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.
Organizational Resilience of Mtc Saad
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Mtc Saad does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Mtc Saad is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Mtc Saad has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mtc Saad 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mtc Saad in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Mtc Saad 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 Tarun Khanna, Ayesha K. Khan 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.
Weaknesses Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa HBR case study mentions - Mtc Saad takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Mtc Saad has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, in the dynamic environment Mtc Saad has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mtc Saad has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Mtc Saad supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mtc Saad vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mtc Saad 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, Tarun Khanna, Ayesha K. Khan suggests that, Mtc Saad 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, is just above the industry average. Mtc Saad 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mtc Saad 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 - Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mtc Saad is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Mtc Saad needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mtc Saad to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Mtc Saad, firm in the HBR case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa | 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mtc Saad 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mtc Saad to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mtc Saad 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 Mtc Saad to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mtc Saad 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, Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mtc Saad 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Mtc Saad 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mtc Saad can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Mtc Saad 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. Mtc Saad 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.
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 Mtc Saad in the consumer business. Now Mtc Saad can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mtc Saad 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mtc Saad 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mtc Saad has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Mtc Saad to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa case study. Mtc Saad can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mtc Saad to increase its market reach. Mtc Saad 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mtc Saad 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.
Threats Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa are -
Regulatory challenges
– Mtc Saad 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.
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 Mtc Saad in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Mtc Saad will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mtc Saad 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mtc Saad with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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. Mtc Saad can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Mtc Saad.
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 Mtc Saad business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa, Mtc Saad 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mtc Saad is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mtc Saad has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mtc Saad 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa 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 Mtc Saad needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.