JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager
Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Managert for product #PON305.A three-party negotiation among a company's human resources manager, senior manager, and a supervisor over whether to reverse plans to fire the supervisor's employee. A multi-issue negotiation in which the HR representative is one of the parties. The company is concerned about a decision to retain or fire a newly transferred manager because of an alleged drinking incident. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager" written by Paddy Moore, Lawrence Susskind includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Finberg Dana facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Finberg Dana, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Finberg Dana 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Finberg Dana
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 Finberg Dana
Strengths JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Finberg Dana in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Finberg Dana has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Finberg Dana to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Finberg Dana has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Finberg Dana is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Finberg Dana to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Finberg Dana to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Finberg Dana 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Finberg Dana 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Finberg Dana 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 Finberg Dana in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Finberg Dana 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager - 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 recruit top talent
– Finberg Dana is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Finberg Dana 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 Finberg Dana is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Finberg Dana 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 Paddy Moore, Lawrence Susskind 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Finberg Dana in the sector have low bargaining power. JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Finberg Dana to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager, it seems that the employees of Finberg Dana 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 Finberg Dana 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager, in the dynamic environment Finberg Dana has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Finberg Dana has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Finberg Dana 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. Finberg Dana 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager, is just above the industry average. Finberg Dana 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Finberg Dana 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Finberg Dana products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Finberg Dana needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Finberg Dana has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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 Finberg Dana supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Finberg Dana vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 Finberg Dana has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Finberg Dana 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 - JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager | 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Finberg Dana 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, JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager, 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, Finberg Dana 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Finberg Dana 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Finberg Dana 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.
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 Finberg Dana 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Finberg Dana 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Finberg Dana 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Finberg Dana to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Finberg Dana 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. Finberg Dana can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Finberg Dana can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Finberg Dana 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. Finberg Dana 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Finberg Dana 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Finberg Dana can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Finberg Dana operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Finberg Dana 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Finberg Dana is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Finberg Dana 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.
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. Finberg Dana 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.
Increasing wage structure of Finberg Dana
– 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 Finberg Dana.
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. Finberg Dana needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Finberg Dana 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 Finberg Dana with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Finberg Dana 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Finberg Dana demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Finberg Dana has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Finberg Dana 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. Finberg Dana can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager 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 Finberg Dana needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of JOHN JANNSSEN AND THE COMPANY - Confidential Instructions for Dana Finberg, District Manager
