Swot Analysis of "Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B)" written by Jana Seijts, Paul Bigus includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that W13550 Megantic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the W13550 Megantic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which W13550 Megantic 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of W13550 Megantic
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 W13550 Megantic
Strengths Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of W13550 Megantic in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– W13550 Megantic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– W13550 Megantic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the W13550 Megantic 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.
Training and development
– W13550 Megantic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that W13550 Megantic 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.
High brand equity
– W13550 Megantic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled W13550 Megantic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– W13550 Megantic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. W13550 Megantic 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– W13550 Megantic 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– W13550 Megantic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– W13550 Megantic 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– W13550 Megantic 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 Jana Seijts, Paul Bigus 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.
Learning organization
- W13550 Megantic 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 W13550 Megantic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) HBR case study mentions - W13550 Megantic 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B), is just above the industry average. W13550 Megantic 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B), it seems that the employees of W13550 Megantic 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at W13550 Megantic 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B), in the dynamic environment W13550 Megantic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. W13550 Megantic 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 W13550 Megantic 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 - Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of W13550 Megantic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. W13550 Megantic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help W13550 Megantic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 W13550 Megantic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left W13550 Megantic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jana Seijts, Paul Bigus suggests that, W13550 Megantic 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 W13550 Megantic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, W13550 Megantic 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. W13550 Megantic 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.
Opportunities Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) | 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for W13550 Megantic 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help W13550 Megantic to increase its market reach. W13550 Megantic 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, W13550 Megantic 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, Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, W13550 Megantic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that W13550 Megantic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Buying journey improvements
– W13550 Megantic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– W13550 Megantic 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. W13550 Megantic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, W13550 Megantic 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.
Manufacturing automation
– W13550 Megantic 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.
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. W13550 Megantic 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. W13550 Megantic 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.
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 W13550 Megantic 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.
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. W13550 Megantic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for W13550 Megantic 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 W13550 Megantic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– W13550 Megantic 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 W13550 Megantic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 W13550 Megantic.
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 W13550 Megantic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for W13550 Megantic 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.
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. W13550 Megantic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of W13550 Megantic
– 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 W13550 Megantic.
Regulatory challenges
– W13550 Megantic 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 W13550 Megantic 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– W13550 Megantic 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.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– W13550 Megantic 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. W13550 Megantic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 Lac-Megantic Train Derailment: Putting Out the Fires (B) 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 W13550 Megantic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.