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, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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 -
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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gcs Consulting digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gcs Consulting has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gcs Consulting is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- Gcs Consulting 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 Gcs Consulting is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Gcs Consulting is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Gcs Consulting 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 GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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 -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Gcs Consulting 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gcs Consulting is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gcs Consulting has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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.
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.
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.
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 Gcs Consulting supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gcs Consulting vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gcs Consulting needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study GCS Consulting: Should Corporate or Personal Interests Come First?, is just above the industry average. Gcs Consulting 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.
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 -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gcs Consulting 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 Gcs Consulting to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Gcs Consulting 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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gcs Consulting 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.
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.
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.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gcs Consulting 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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 .
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Gcs Consulting
– 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 Gcs Consulting.
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. Gcs Consulting 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.
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.
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.
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? .
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.
Environmental challenges
– Gcs Consulting 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. Gcs Consulting can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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.
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.
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.