GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?
In recent years, the critical function of expanding GCS Consulting's information technology consulting business had lost priority as the managing director of the firm was increasingly preoccupied with World Bank engagements as an IT consultant. He was aware of the immense potential in new areas of consulting and changing business models. However, he was also conscious of the investment of time, effort and finances that would be required on his part to strengthen GCS's marketing activities and build up a team of professionals well versed in newly emerging consulting areas such as social media, mobile, analytics and cloud computing. Should he promote GCS or move ahead as an individual IT consultant? Surinder Batra is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology. Sandeep Puri is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?" written by Surinder Batra, Sandeep Puri includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gcs Consulting facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gcs Consulting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gcs Consulting 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gcs Consulting
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 Gcs Consulting
Strengths GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gcs Consulting in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gcs Consulting 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gcs Consulting in the sector have low bargaining power. GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gcs Consulting to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gcs Consulting in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Gcs Consulting has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gcs Consulting to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Gcs Consulting has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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.
Organizational Resilience of Gcs Consulting
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gcs Consulting does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Gcs Consulting is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gcs Consulting 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gcs Consulting to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gcs Consulting to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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.
Analytics focus
– Gcs Consulting 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 Surinder Batra, Sandeep Puri 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.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Gcs Consulting 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 Gcs Consulting in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?, in the dynamic environment Gcs Consulting has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gcs Consulting has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gcs Consulting 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gcs Consulting 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 - GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Gcs Consulting products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gcs Consulting needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gcs Consulting is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Surinder Batra, Sandeep Puri suggests that, Gcs Consulting 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gcs Consulting 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Gcs Consulting has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 Gcs Consulting has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gcs Consulting 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. Gcs Consulting 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? HBR case study mentions - Gcs Consulting 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.
Opportunities GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? | 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Gcs Consulting 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, GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gcs Consulting 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.
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. Gcs Consulting can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Gcs Consulting can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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
– Gcs Consulting 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gcs Consulting 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gcs Consulting can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gcs Consulting is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Gcs Consulting 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. Gcs Consulting 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. Gcs Consulting 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gcs Consulting 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.
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 Gcs Consulting in the consumer business. Now Gcs Consulting can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gcs Consulting can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gcs Consulting operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? are -
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 Gcs Consulting in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Gcs Consulting.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gcs Consulting 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gcs Consulting 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 Gcs Consulting is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Gcs Consulting 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gcs Consulting 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gcs Consulting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?, Gcs Consulting may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gcs Consulting has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gcs Consulting needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Gcs Consulting business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Gcs Consulting can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? 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 Gcs Consulting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
